The EU is preparing a separate accession roadmap for Ukraine. Special conditions will be provided for the agricultural sector

The European Commission has named Ukraine one of the four candidate countries that have made the most progress on its path to the EU. A separate roadmap is being prepared for it with next steps, indicative deadlines, and specific tasks.

This was announced by European Commissioner for Enlargement Marta Kos following the meeting of the College of European Commissioners in Strasbourg on October 6, a Babel correspondent reports.

The roadmaps are intended to make the process more predictable: they will set out the next steps, indicative deadlines and concrete deliverables expected from the four most advanced candidate countries in the negotiations – Ukraine, Moldova, Montenegro and Albania.

The European Commission plans to present them together with the enlargement package on 28 October.

For Ukraine, this document may differ from other candidates due to the full-scale war. Kos emphasized that Ukraine is simultaneously waging a war, implementing reforms, and moving through the negotiation process for EU accession.

"Nobody is doing as much to join the EU as Ukraine," Kos said.

At the same time, she emphasized that there will be no separate "shortcuts" to membership. The outcome will depend on how the country implements the necessary reforms.

What will happen to the Ukrainian agricultural sector?

Separately, the European Commission proposes to take into account the scale of Ukrainian agriculture during preparations for membership.

“The scale, structure, and very high productivity of Ukraineʼs agricultural sector allow us to call for the study of point solutions that would apply only to sensitive agricultural products,” Kos said.

According to her, although Ukraineʼs accession should not have a negative effect on farmers in the EU, the European Union seeks to support Ukraine and help restore access to traditional export markets in third countries.

The conditions under which Ukraine can become part of the common agricultural policy have yet to be agreed, the European Commissioner said. The European Union is already discussing this issue with Kyiv.

The assessment of Ukrainian agriculture will also be taken into account during negotiations on the opening of Cluster 5, which covers resources, agriculture and cohesion policy. According to Kos, discussions on this issue could begin in the coming weeks.

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