Ukrainian Prime Minister Denis Shmigal said Friday that the country hopes to join the European Union in less than two years, he shared in a message via Telegram.
«We believe that we can complete negotiations on EU membership in two years,» Shmigal said while acknowledging that a «huge amount of work» will be needed to complete the process and make Ukraine a full-fledged EU member.
In addition, the Prime Minister acknowledged «productive cooperation» on the part of the European partners on the possible integration into the European community.
An EU meeting is expected to be held in Kiev on February 3, which will be attended by the President of the European Commission, Ursula von der Leyen, together with ten other commissioners.
«This will not only be an important signal of further support for Ukraine in the war, but will also demonstrate that the EU is open to the negotiation process on Ukraine’s accession,» the leader added via Telegram.
In this context, the EU declared Ukraine and Moldova candidates for membership last June, but negotiations usually take several years.
For her part, the President of the European Commission, Ursula von der Leyen, praised on Friday Ukraine’s «ambition and speed» in the reform agenda to join the European Union and hopes that this progress will be reflected in decisions by the EU-27 next autumn, when they will assess the situation of all candidate countries for accession.
At a press conference in Sweden, the head of the European Executive defended that accession to the EU is a «step-by-step» process, with the report on enlargement next autumn as the next goal, but she did not hesitate to praise the «impressive speed and ambition» shown by Kiev.
Source: (EUROPA PRESS)
