Ukraine will join EU ‘much sooner than expected’ unless bloc creates more ‘artificial’ obstacles, says Dmitry Kuleba
Ukraine has made great strides on its path to EU membership and now the bloc needs to reform to bring the country into its membership, said senior Kyiv diplomat Dmitry Kuleba.
The Foreign Secretary made the remarks on Thursday as he spoke at an online event organized by Chatham House, a leading British foreign policy think tank. Ukraine is seeking to launch accession talks with the EU next year, Kuleba revealed.
“Our goal is to open membership negotiations in 2023. I’m not going to give you a year when Ukraine will become a full member, I’ll just say that it will happen,” he added. said the diplomat.
While refraining from giving more specific estimates on membership, Kuleba insisted that it would occur “much sooner than many think” especially if “the European Union does not propose new artificial conditions, demands [and] procedures to slow down this process.
The bloc now needs to reform to have Ukraine in its ranks, Kuleba said, adding that Kyiv has already proven “that he is ready to do his homework much faster than expected.”
“What’s really funny about Ukraine’s European integration is that for 20 years the EU told Ukraine ‘You need to reform, and then we’ll decide whether you’ll join.’ It was a bit of a promise. he said.
While reform was a problem during the first 20 years of Ukraine’s integration into the EU, we will not allow…and we call on the European Union not to reform the European Union an excuse to delay Ukraine’s accession.
EU membership has been a main topic of discussion among pro-Western Ukrainian politicians for decades already, but little or no real progress had been made until the ongoing hostilities between Kyiv and Moscow erupted last year. The conflict has considerably accelerated the accession process, with Ukraine being granted EU candidate status last June.
You can share this story on social media:
