Ukraine and the European Commission have agreed on further steps to meet the interim benchmarks in the areas of democracy and the rule of law in the first half of 2027. European Commissioner for Enlargement Marta Kos announced this following a meeting of the high-level EU-Ukraine working group, UNN reports.
Details
According to Kos, Ukraine continues to make progress toward membership in the European Union, while the European Commission is accelerating work on the next important stage of the negotiation process.
During the working group meeting, the parties discussed specific reform commitments and identified further steps to achieve the stated goal.
Verkhovna Rada Chairman Ruslan Stefanchuk also joined the meeting. The European Commissioner called his participation an important signal of the unity of the Ukrainian authorities on the issue of European integration.
Kos emphasized that Ukraine seeks to fulfill the relevant interim benchmarks as early as the first half of 2027.
In her view, joint work between Ukraine and the EU makes it possible to accelerate the European integration process and bring the country closer to membership in the European Union.
Additional information
According to the European Commission's roadmap, fulfilling the interim rule-of-law benchmarks is necessary to move to the next stage of negotiations, at which Ukraine will be able to begin the preliminary closing of the negotiating chapters. The pace of this process will depend on the implementation of reforms.