EU accelerated assessment of Ukraine’s EU candidate conditions fulfillment — Cabinet of Ministers

The Cabinet of Ministers hopes that in the spring of 2023, the European Commission will preliminarily assess Ukraine's progress in implementing the seven recommendations necessary for starting EU membership negotiations.

This was reported by the office of the Deputy Prime Minister for European and Euro-Atlantic Integration on Friday, referring to the conclusions of the EU Council on general issues published on December 13.

The conclusions state that the Council of the EU considers the European Commission's intentions to provide updated information on Ukraine's progress in implementing the European Commission's recommendations in the spring of 2023 as a supplement (without prejudice) to the comprehensive regular reporting on EU enlargement.

"The Council welcomes Ukraine's efforts in the field of reforms in such difficult times and encourages the country to continue on this path and fulfill the conditions defined in the Commission's conclusion regarding its application for EU membership," the document states.

The Council of the EU also noted the significant efforts that Ukraine has demonstrated to achieve the goals defined in the recommendations of the European Commission regarding candidate status, as well as significant progress in general in the process of reforms.

"This is an important decision to ensure the high dynamics of the European integration of Ukraine, as well as preparation for the start of negotiations on membership," said Deputy Prime Minister-Minister for European and Euro-Atlantic Integration of Ukraine Olha Stefanishyna.

The fact that updated information on Ukraine's progress on moving to the EU will be made public in the spring of 2023 allows Kyiv to speed up the start of membership negotiations.

Until now, the EU has insisted that the first assessment of progress and recommendations for "working on mistakes" will not be presented until October autumn 2023. This meant postponing the process of Ukraine's European integration for at least half a year and could lead to the official start of negotiations on membership being postponed until the formation of a new composition of the commission.