EU ambassador expecting negotiating framework for Ukraine to be approved in June

MOSCOW. April 23 (Interfax) - EU Ambassador to Ukraine Katarina Mathernova has said she hopes that the European Union would approve a negotiating framework for Ukraine and the convocation of the first intergovernmental conference in June.

"The EU leaders sent a political message on starting the negotiations back in December last year. I very much hope that real negotiations can begin in June. I think Ukraine is ready to negotiate," Mathernova told Ukrainian media.

This does not mean that Ukraine is ready for the instant entry into the EU, Mathernova said. "That's the idea of negotiations: the reform process will continue during them," she said.

"So, I very much hope that the negotiating framework proposed by the European Commission in March will be approved in June. The intergovernmental conference to discuss technicalities of the issue may also be held in June," Mathernova said.

Ukrainian Prime Minister Denis Shmygal said earlier that Ukraine sought the soonest beginning of negotiations on the accession to the EU and hoped that would happen no later than in June 2024.

In turn, European Council President Charles Michel said in March he believed that the negotiating framework for Ukraine would be approved during the Belgian presidency of the Council of the European Union that ends on June 30.

The European Council proposed on March 21 that the negotiating framework prepared by the European Commission for Ukraine and Moldova be approved quickly.