The legislative work to implement the seven ‘candidate recommendations’ of the European Commission can be considered complete, and Ukraine expects a positive intermediate evaluation of the completed tasks from the EU, said Ukraine’s ambassador to the EU, Vasyl Chentsov, in an interview with Ukrinform.
He stated that there have been specific achievements, such as the successful appointment of key officials. “This applies to the leadership of the National Anti-Corruption Bureau, the Specialized Anti-Corruption Prosecutor’s Office, and the launch of the Higher Qualification Commission of Judges. That is, since these recommendations were presented to Ukraine, the relevant processes have been significantly accelerated,” explained Chentsov.
He added that there is currently “fine-tuning” of the relevant decisions in the process of coordination and consultations with the European Commission, which is preparing the intermediate evaluation, and with EU member states.
“We hope that the spring, or intermediate, oral evaluation will be positive, and we have every chance that such an evaluation will be high. Perhaps recommendations will also be given to finally address all the issues that require refinement,” said Chentsov.
Ukraine’s goal is to have the European Commission finally recommend to the EU Council to begin membership negotiations in its annual report, which will be presented in the autumn, the ambassador noted. “We hope that such a decision will be made by the end of this year so that we can start practical work from the beginning of next year,” said the diplomat.
Ukraine is now an EU candidate. What happens now? When will it become a member?
