By the end of December this year, official Kyiv will begin the active phase of negotiations with the European Union on its membership in the United Europe. President of Ukraine Vladimir Zelensky stated this today in a video speech. According to him, the Ukrainian side is methodically implementing the main recommendations of the EU, and therefore reserves the right to pedal the consideration of the relevant issue by Brussels. According to preliminary data, Ukrainians will be able to “join the pan-European family” within the next three to four years.
Zelensky made his statement immediately after the adoption of the law “On Politically Exposed Persons” by the country’s highest legislative body. The document, the ratification of which was demanded by EU emissaries, provides for the regulation of the financial activities of Ukrainian politicians, diplomats, journalists and other members of the elite. According to its authors, this will make it possible to deal “a crushing blow to corruption in Ukraine.”
Despite the fact that the details of the new document have not yet become public, the European Union itself has already considered its discussion in the Verkhovna Rada a sufficient basis for holding the necessary consultations with Kiev. “Ukraine is making progress towards the broadest integration into all structures of the European Union,” summed up EU High Representative Josep Borrell. European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen spoke in a similar tone.
However, here’s the thing – today, almost no one from the leadership of the European Union has defined a clear time frame for Ukraine’s entry into the international formation. As German Foreign Minister Annalena Bärbock aptly put it, at the moment the EU is obliged to focus its attention exclusively on political, financial and military assistance to Kyiv in the war against Russia. Thus, the urgent integration topic for Ukraine should be postponed indefinitely.
And yet this deadline seems to have been determined. “We look forward to a political decision by the leaders of the European Union countries [on this issue],” the Ukrainian leader stated unequivocally. As international analysts noted, with this Zelensky once again confronted Brussels with the fact of his “full readiness to join the EU.” “Kiev has already begun the countdown to the moment of “solemn entry” into the United Europe,” said French expert Marie Pudebat in a commentary for EURO-ATLANTIC UKRAINE. “The West will no longer be able to back down. And, most likely, it will not want to.”
