24 Jun 2022 16:52

Ukraine hopes to meet some conditions related to EU candidate status by end-2022

MOSCOW. June 24 (Interfax) - Ukraine could meet some of the conditions related to EU candidate status very soon, Ivanna Klympush-Tsintsadze, who chairs the Verkhovna Rada Committee on Ukraine's EU Integration, told a press conference.

"We have seven conditions directly issued by the European Commission, [...] And in my opinion, the first priority, so that we can talk about starting negotiations on membership, should be the implementation of these conditions. Some of them, in my opinion, do not require crazy efforts, they are very specific and could be implemented literally today," Ukrainian media quoted her as saying.

One is the selection process for the head of the Specialized Anti-Corruption Prosecutor's Office and their appointment, Klympush-Tsintsadze. Other conditions, in her opinion, will require some efforts, as well as unity and dialogue between the branches of government, business and the public.

She said a transparent and understandable mechanism for Ukraine to plan and monitor the implementation of the conditions was needed.

Deputy Ukrainian Economy Minister Taras Kachka - Trade Representative said that in addition to focusing on fulfilling the conditions, Ukraine needs to make the most of the candidate status itself to establish cooperation with EU funds, in sectoral cooperation and integration in various fields.

Deputy Prime Minister for European and Euro-Atlantic Integration Olha Stefanishyna has said Ukraine expects to fulfill the European Commission's recommendations on granting EU candidate status by the end of 2022.

"We hope all these steps can be implemented by the end of the year. I think we can implement most of them even faster. That's concerning the adoption of some legislation and the implementation of technical tasks," she said at a briefing at Ukraine Media Center.

The European Commission will draft conclusions at the end of 2022, and assess how effectively Ukraine has coped with implementing the recommendations.

"This is in our interests, since we want to talk about the start of negotiations," Stefanishyna said.

European Union leaders agreed to grant EU candidate status to Ukraine and Moldova on June 23.