EU should start membership negotiations with Ukraine by the end of June — von der Leyen

Ukraine has completed all the reforms and necessary steps set by the European Commission in the process of its accession to the European Union. Consequently, the EU should start membership negotiations with Ukraine by the end of June.

This was stated by the President of the European Commission, Ursula von der Leyen, in Berlin during a conference on Ukraine’s recovery.

«Ukraine has fulfilled all the steps we have set out. That is why we are convinced that the European Union should start accession negotiations with Ukraine by the end of this month», — von der Leyen said.

She noted that Ukraine is implementing the necessary reforms and democratic transformations, including strengthening the rule of law and fighting corruption in the face of the Russian invasion. In this context, the President of the European Commission called Ukraine’s achievements impressive and thanked Ukraine for remaining a steadfast and reliable partner.

Today, an international conference on Ukraine’s recovery is taking place in Berlin, attended by leaders of several European countries, foreign ministers, representatives of European business, and industry. The conference was addressed by President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelenskyy and German Chancellor Olaf Scholz.

As a reminder, on June 7, the European Commission confirmed that it had given a positive oral assessment of the progress of European integration reforms in Ukraine and Moldova, as set out in the November EU Enlargement Report.

Financial assistance to Ukraine

The EC President also announced that Ukraine will receive 1.9 billion euros under the Ukraine Facility plan by the end of June. In addition, according to her, it has already been possible to mobilize 200 million euros for urgent repairs to the energy system.

Ursula von der Leyen also said that the EU will be able to provide Ukraine with almost 1.5 billion euros in July from the proceeds of frozen Russian assets in the EU.