The EU held the first intergovernmental ministerial conference to start accession negotiations with Ukraine.
Kyiv • UNN
The EU has held its first intergovernmental ministerial conference to begin accession negotiations with Ukraine, marking a historic step towards Ukraine's potential future membership in the European Union.
On June 25, the EU held the first intergovernmental ministerial conference to start accession negotiations with Ukraine. This happened after the decision of the European Council of December 14-15, 2023 to open accession negotiations with Ukraine and the council's approval of the framework program of negotiations for negotiations with Ukraine on June 21 in accordance with the revised expansion methodology, the website of the European Council reported UNN.
Details
The EU delegation was led by Haja Lahbib, Belgium's Minister of foreign and European affairs, accompanied by neighborhood and Enlargement Commissioner Oliver Vargey. The Ukrainian delegation was headed by Deputy Prime Minister Olha Stefanyshyna. Prime Minister Denys Chmigal spoke from Kiev at the conference.
This is a historic day for Ukraine and the EU. The path to achieving this goal has been difficult, and Ukraine's determination to implement the necessary reforms has been truly impressive. The accession negotiations that we are opening today will be rigorous and demanding. With determination and dedication, we are confident that Ukraine will be able to bring them to a successful conclusion. The future of Ukraine and its citizens lies in the European Union.
The EU reiterated its strong condemnation of Russia's war of aggression against Ukraine and declared its readiness to continue supporting Ukraine and its people in the fight against Russia's ongoing war as much as necessary and as intensively as necessary.
The EU stressed that Ukraine is already a close partner of the EU. Its association agreement with the EU, which also includes a large-scale deep and comprehensive free trade area, entered into force in 2017 and has been temporarily applied since 2014. This is the basis for broad cooperation between the EU and Ukraine in a wide range of areas. The EU and Ukraine are closely aligned on foreign and security policy issues, and the EU encourages Ukraine to continue its positive trend towards full alignment with the EU's common foreign and security policy.
Now the EU has invited the Commission to continue assessing Ukraine's readiness to start negotiations in specific areas and identify issues that are most likely to arise during the negotiations, starting with the main cluster, which, according to the negotiation framework, will be opened first.
It is expected that Ukraine, as a future member state, will continue to adhere to the values listed in Article 2 of the Treaty on European Union, namely respect for human dignity, freedom, democracy, equality, the rule of law and respect for Human Rights. , including the rights of persons belonging to minorities.
