Kiev: Ukraine's accession to the EU is possible no earlier than 2029

According to Forsyuk, Ukraine will be able to obtain the status of an EU member no earlier than 2029. The reason for the delay is "a huge amount of legislation that needs to be adopted and implemented."

In particular, the requirements of the EU deal with the improvement of the rule of law and the fight against corruption. These recommendations were previously developed by the European Commission. At the same time, it was noted that there are no options to speed up the country's admission to the EU.

At the June 20 meeting, a number of countries stressed that Ukraine must strictly implement these recommendations in order to go beyond granting candidate status. The countries stressed that there would be no concessions.

“We must live according to European laws,” Forsyuk quoted the Strana newspaper as commenting.

At the same time, the start of negotiations on Ukraine's accession to the EU can quite realistically be scheduled for 2023.

It became known yesterday that during the EU summit on June 23, EU leaders agreed to give Ukraine and Moldova the status of candidate countries. This does not guarantee an accelerated accession of Kiev or Chisinau to the European Union, Gazeta.ru notes. It is possible that the process could drag on for 10 or more years.

Thus, Turkey has had candidate status since 1999, North Macedonia since 2005, Montenegro since 2010, and Serbia since 2012. Croatia, which was admitted to the EU in 2013, has been in candidate status for 10 years.

The EU warned that in order to join the Union, Ukraine needs to carry out serious reforms.