EU launches official negotiations for Ukraine and Moldova’s accession

The European Union is set to commence negotiations with Ukraine and Moldova regarding EU membership in the afternoon of June 25.

The President of the European Commission, Ursula von der Leyen, announced this.

"This is very good news for the people of Ukraine, Moldova, and the entire European Union. The path ahead will be challenging but full of opportunities. Wishing you a successful start of the negotiations!" the head of the European Commission wrote.

According to von der Leyen, the peoples of Ukraine and Moldova have demonstrated "unwavering commitment" to joining the European Union.

Both countries have started large-scale reforms, but Ukraine and Moldova still have a strict and demanding path ahead of them.

The President of the European Commission also explained that the accession negotiations are necessary to prepare the country for EU membership and cannot be "shortcuts."

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It should be noted that in the afternoon, on June 25, the first Intergovernmental Conference on Ukraine's accession to the EU will be held in Luxembourg, which will give an official start to negotiations on Ukraine's membership in the European Union.

The intergovernmental conference with Ukraine is scheduled for 16:30 Kyiv time. It will be followed by a similar first Intergovernmental Conference on Moldova's accession to the EU, scheduled for 19:00 Kyiv time.

The conference will consist of three parts:

• opening statement of Belgium as the country holding the EU presidency;
• statement of Ukraine;
• speeches and comments of member states.

At the conference, the EU will present to Ukraine the general framework of the negotiations, which establish the key principles of the negotiation process.

The Ukrainian delegation will be headed by the Deputy Prime Minister for European and Euro-Atlantic integration Olha Stefanishyna, and the European delegation by the head of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Belgium Hadja Lahbib

On June 21, the EU Council approved the negotiating framework for Ukraine and Moldova and confirmed that the intergovernmental conferences to launch negotiations will be held on June 25.

In turn, the Minister of Foreign Affairs, Dmytro Kuleba, emphasized that Ukraine will be three steps away from full membership in the European Union after the EU accession negotiations, which will begin on June 25, are completed.

According to him, these three steps, in particular, will be:

• the European Commission's conclusion on the successful completion of negotiations and Ukraine's fulfillment of the accession requirements;
• the decision to sign the Agreement on Ukraine's accession to the EU;
• ratification of the agreement by the parliaments of the EU member states and Ukraine's attainment of full membership in the European Union.

It is worth adding that President Volodymyr Zelensky said that June 25, when the negotiations on Ukraine's accession to the EU should begin, will be the day that the Ukrainian state has been working toward for decades. According to him, Ukraine cannot be diverted from the path to a united Europe.