According to the EU Commission, Ukraine and Moldova meet all the requirements for starting negotiations on joining the European Union. A corresponding analysis was presented verbally to representatives of the governments of the EU states in Brussels on Friday, diplomats said. Both countries therefore ticked off outstanding points in March.
In the case of Ukraine, for example, the focus was on measures to better protect national minorities and to limit the political influence of oligarchs. The German government had already announced at the end of May that it considered all the conditions for the start of EU accession negotiations with Ukraine to have been met.
However, it is unclear whether the accession talks will really get off to a quick start, as the Hungarian government has been making additional demands for its approval of accession talks with Ukraine up until the very end. For example, it is demanding that the issue of minority protection be addressed more explicitly than before in documents for the negotiations that are yet to be approved. The background to this is that it believes that the rights of a Hungarian minority in Ukraine are not sufficiently respected.
The start of accession talks with Ukraine, which has been attacked by Russia, and its small neighbouring country, Moldova, had already been decided in principle at an EU summit in December. At the same time, however, it was agreed that all reform requirements must be met before negotiations can begin. Another prerequisite is that all EU states have agreed to the so-called negotiating framework, which sets out the guidelines and principles for the accession talks.
For the people of Ukraine, the opening of EU accession negotiations is seen above all as an important sign that it is worth continuing the defensive struggle against Russia. How long it might take after the talks have started until the country joins the EU is completely unclear. Turkey, for example, became an EU candidate in 1999 – and is currently considered further away from membership than all other accession candidates, partly because of setbacks in the rule of law.