The EC was unable to name the timing of the start of negotiations on Ukraine’s admission to the EU

The European Commission (EC) announced that there are no exact dates for approving the program for the start of negotiations on Ukraine’s membership in the EU. This was announced by the representative of the European body Eric Mamer.

“The European Commission intends to submit the provisions on the negotiations to the EU Council as early as possible, we intend to do this by the end of March. But we don’t know when the council will approve it, this is a question for the EU Council,” he said (quote according to TASS).

On February 22, the President of the European Commission (EC), Ursula von der Leyen, announced that the EU had suspended negotiations with Ukraine on joining the union until the summer – then elections to the European Parliament will be held, which will take place from June 6 to 9.

How said To Vedomosti, Vladislav Belov, Deputy Director of the Institute of Europe of the Russian Academy of Sciences, the head of the EC, understands that Ukraine will inevitably be one of the items on the election agenda in the European Parliament in the summer and that not all political forces are ready to discuss Kyiv’s real accession to the EU.

On December 14, 2023, the European Council decided to begin negotiations on the accession of Ukraine and Moldova to the EU. The Kremlin considered this step politicized, noting that the countries did not meet the criteria for joining the association. Press Secretary of the Russian President Dmitry Peskov also admitted that the accession of Ukraine and Moldova could destabilize the EU, and the negotiations themselves could last for years and decades.