Vice Prime Minister for European and Euro-Atlantic Integration of Ukraine Taras Kachka told ministers of five European countries what Ukraine expects from the opening of the first negotiation cluster "Fundamentals of the EU Accession Process". This was reported by the Office of the Vice Prime Minister, according to UNN.
Details
It is noted that on August 18-19, Kachka held telephone conversations with Spanish Foreign Minister José Manuel Albares, Finnish Minister for European Affairs and Property Management Joakim Strand, Portuguese Foreign Minister Paulo Rangel, Greek Foreign Minister Giorgos Gerapetritis, and Austrian Minister for European Affairs Claudia Plakolm.
The parties coordinated their positions ahead of the informal meeting of EU ministers for European affairs with the participation of enlargement countries. It will take place in Copenhagen in early September.
The key issue of the event is various aspects of EU enlargement. The Vice Prime Minister informed his European counterparts that Ukraine expects the earliest possible opening of the first negotiation Cluster "Fundamentals of the EU Accession Process".
This step will allow consolidating Ukraine's commitments and transformations within the roadmaps and will make the reform process even more consistent. According to him, Ukraine expects all 27 EU member states to demonstrate unity on EU enlargement issues. The official separately emphasized the importance of continuing the parallel accession process of Ukraine and Moldova
Taras Kachka also informed the EU ministers that Ukraine continues to implement reforms that will bring the state closer to membership, particularly in the areas of rule of law and anti-corruption.
In particular, a law on strengthening the institutional independence of NABU and SAP was adopted, a law on ARMA reform was signed, and a competitive selection procedure for appointing a new head of the Agency with the participation of international experts was launched, a competitive selection procedure for appointing the head of the State Customs Service was launched, and the head of the Bureau of Economic Security was appointed.
Recall
On Friday, August 15, the newly appointed Vice Prime Minister of Ukraine for European and Euro-Atlantic Integration Taras Kachka held his first official telephone dialogue with the Swedish Minister for EU Affairs Jessica Rosencrantz. The parties discussed key challenges of the European integration process, the need to preserve the unity of EU member states, and further reforms in Ukraine.
Ukraine plans to complete screening for all clusters and prepare a national program for the implementation of EU legislation by the end of the year. Some clusters are already ready for opening, but the final decision depends on the vote of the 27 EU member states.