President of the European Commission: opinions on EU candidate status for Ukraine to be submitted by the end of next week

European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen has said the European Commission will finalize recommendations on granting Ukraine EU candidate status by the end of next week.

She said this during a press conference in Kyiv.

"The European Commission is preparing its recommendations, the so-called conclusion for EU member states. We worked day and night on this assessment. I promised you in April that we will work hard on this, and our discussions will allow us to complete this work by the end of next week," said von der Leyen.

• Ukraine officially signed and applied for EU membership on February 28. Ukraine and Georgia followed suit. After that, the summit of EU leaders instructed the European Commission to compile a questionnaire and pass it to these countries, and then, based on the answers, assess whether they meet the main criteria for EU accession. Ukraine completed and submitted both parts of the questionnaire in record time.
• The European Commission is expected to approve its assessment of Ukraineʼs application to join the EU on June 17. After that, this issue will be discussed at the summit of EU leaders on June 23-24, where it will be decided whether to grant Ukraine candidate status.