Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine

Deputies of the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine, members of the Parliamentary Association Committee met with Oliver Varhelyi, European Commissioner for Neighbourhood and Enlargement. Last month he presented an oral assessment of Ukraine's fulfilment of seven requirements, which accompanied the candidate status.

The first deputy Chair of the Ukrainian branch of the Parliamentary Association Committee Ivanna Klympush-Tsintsadze noted that the meeting with Oliver Varhelyi was an important and frank conversation after the public verbal assessment of the efforts of Moldova, Ukraine and Georgia. “It is significant that the large Ukrainian delegation of the Parliamentary Association Committee, which worked in Brussels, was able to hear real expectations from the European Commission regarding fulfilment of the remaining five conditions. A decision on the opening of membership negotiations is made on the political level, based on the political will of the member countries, but it also takes into account fulfilling the tasks that countries undertook voluntarily on their way to EU membership. This assessment is carried out very meticulously. We cannot count on a fast track,” said Ivanna Klympush-Tsintsadze.

She noted that it is important to understand that the European Commission's assessment, which will be published in the fall as part of the general enlargement package, will not be limited solely to the fulfilment or non-fulfilment of the seven conditions that accompanied the decision on Ukraine's candidacy. “It will also include a much broader assessment of how we are progressing in terms of fulfilling our European integration obligations both under the Association Agreement and more generally— the progress made in terms of implementing the rules and procedures of the European Union. We must understand it. Therefore, our attention should not be focused only on these seven requirements. Although, of course, it is fundamentally to meet them,” said Ivanna Klympush-Tsintsadze.