Minister Dmytro Kuleba: Discussions regarding the opening of negotiations with Ukraine are still ongoing in the EU

Minister of Foreign Affairs of Ukraine Dmytro Kuleba informed that the European Union supports the start of negotiations on Ukraineʼs accession to the bloc, but this issue is still open, and "the struggle will continue."

He said this at a meeting of heads of European foreign affairs in Brussels, as “Interfax” reports.

According to him, the discussions will continue "until the last minute" at the summit of EU leaders, but "the general mood and general signal is an unprecedented level of support for the opening of negotiations on Ukraineʼs membership in the EU." Dmytro Kuleba added that the partners were impressed by Ukraineʼs implementation of all recommendations during the month.

The head of the Ukrainian Foreign Ministry said that at the meeting they discussed the consequences of a negative decision regarding negotiations with Ukraine. EU representatives believe that a decision in favor of the start of negotiations should be made for the sake of the bloc itself, since its absence can play against the European Union.

"Ukraine will be a member of the EU, itʼs only a matter of time and price. And our task is to make the price as low as possible and the time as short as possible," said Kuleba.

When will we become a member of the EU?

This will happen only after Ukraine fulfills all requirements and fully implements all European standards.

There are various examples in the history of EU enlargement. Finland applied in 1992, and already in 1995 it became a member of the European Union. Poland applied in 1994 and joined the EU 10 years later. The last country to join the European Union is Croatia. It applied in 2003 and became a new member of the EU in 2013.

There are also countries that still remain candidates for admission. These are four Balkan countries: Albania, North Macedonia, Montenegro and Serbia. Turkey has the same status. But in all these countries the process is stalled. Turkey does not meet the requirements of the EU at all and shows no desire to join it. In Serbia, the majority of the population does not want to join the European Union, and the country itself has close ties with Russia. Albania has not even started accession negotiations, and in Montenegro, with the change of government, the foreign policy orientation is also changing — sometimes towards the EU, then towards Serbia. North Macedonia is doing the most to join the European Union, but its progress is being blocked by its neighbors. First Greece demanded to change the name — and the Macedonians did it, now Bulgaria demands from North Macedonia to recognize that its people and language have Bulgarian roots and come from Bulgaria.

The most important thing is that after receiving the candidate status, everything depends on the Ukrainian authorities. It has a clear list of reforms that must be implemented, and society has the opportunity to control this process. In addition, the candidate status means access to financial funds of the European Union — in fact, the EU itself will provide money for the implementation of reforms. One thing can be said for sure: the sooner Ukraine reforms, the sooner it can become a member of the EU.

• On November 8, the European Commission recommended starting negotiations with Ukraine on joining the EU. Now the commissionʼs conclusion must be approved by the member states when EU leaders meet on December 14-15 at the summit. If they officially give the green light to the negotiations, the blocʼs executive body will begin technical work on preparing the accession process.