The European Commission recommended the EU countries to start accession negotiations with Ukraine. But Kyiv must implement a number of reforms. The head of the EC, Ursula von der Leyen, said this at a briefing in Brussels on Wednesday, November 8.
According to her, Ukraine has completed 90% of the reforms that the EU expected of it, but the condition is to continue to carry out unfinished transformations in the future.
“On this basis, we recommended today that the EU Council open accession negotiations. We also recommend that the Council approve a negotiating framework once Ukraine has completed ongoing reforms,” she said.
Von der Leyen noted that the main progress of Ukraine was achieved in the field of constitutional justice, the reform of the selection of the High Council of Justice, the anti-corruption program, the fight against money laundering, important measures to curb oligarchs, as well as the new law on media and in the field of national minorities.
In a report released by the European Commission, it is recommended that the Council adopt a negotiating framework after Ukraine:
- adopt the law proposed by the government on increasing the number of staff of the National Anti-Corruption Bureau of Ukraine;
- exclude from the Law on the Prevention of Corruption the provisions that limit the powers of the NAKC to verify assets that have already passed the verification process and limit the powers of the NAKC to verify property acquired by declarants before entering the public service, without prejudice to the rules applicable to ensuring national security during war;
- will adopt a law that will regulate lobbying according to European standards as part of the anti-oligarchic action plan;
- will adopt a law addressing the remaining recommendations of the Venice Commission of June 2023 and October 2023 related to the law on national minorities, and will also take into account the recommendations of the Venice Commission related to laws on state language, media and education;
- will continue to fight corruption through further corruption investigations and convictions.
