Ukraine plans to join EU within two years – Ukraine’s PM

Ukraine plans to join the European Union within the next two years, Prime Minister of Ukraine Denys Shmyhal told Politico in an interview.

"We have a very ambitious plan to join the European Union within the next two years. So we expect that this year, in 2023, we can already have this pre-entry stage of negotiations," Shmyhal said.

The upcoming EU-Ukraine summit to be held on February 3 in Kyiv will be devoted to this issue. Shmyhal hopes that on Friday, Ukraine will be able to make a "substantial leap forward," particularly in specific areas — an agreement on a visa-free regime for industrial goods, the suspension of customs duties on Ukrainian exports for another year, and "active progress" towards joining the payment system the SEPA (Single European Payments Network) and the inclusion of Ukraine in the EU mobile roaming zone.

"We expect progress and acceleration on our path towards signing these agreements," the Ukrainian government chief said.

Another major issue with Ukraine's accession to the EU will be Ukraine's fight against corruption. PM Shmyhal emphasized that the Ukrainian government takes corruption seriously.

"We have a zero-tolerance approach to corruption. Unfortunately, corruption was not born yesterday, but we are certain that we will uproot corruption," Ukraine's PM said, pointing out the "lightning speed" with which several officials were dismissed this month concerning corruption cases.

Shmyhal also said the government was ready to revise its recent legislation on the country's Constitutional Court to meet the demands of both the European Commission and the Venice Commission, the Council of Europe's advisory body. Changes may take place this week, on the eve of the summit, Shmyhal said.

The publication reports that the symbolic power of this week's summit is expected to send a strong signal to Moscow about Ukraine's European aspirations.

Earlier, Ukraine's Minister of Foreign Affairs, Dmytro Kuleba, stated that Ukraine was counting on tangible, practical results of the EU-Ukraine Summit and a positive assessment of the implementation of the European Commission's recommendations, which will make it possible to start pre-accession negotiations as early as 2023.

Reference

On 28 February 2022, shortly after the start of russia's full-scale invasion, Ukraine applied for membership in the European Union. The presidents of eight EU states called for an accelerated accession process.

On June 17, 2022, the European Commission recommended that the European Council grant Ukraine candidate status for accession to the EU.

On June 23, 2022, the European Parliament adopted a resolution calling for the immediate granting of candidate status for EU membership to Ukraine. On the same day, the European Council granted Ukraine the status of a candidate for accession to the EU.