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30 Jan. () –
The Prime Minister of Ukraine, Denis Shmigal, has stated that kyiv has “a very ambitious plan” to achieve its accession to the European Union (EU) within two years, including entry in 2023 in the previous phase of negotiations for joining the block.
“We have a very ambitious plan to join the EU in the next two years,” he said in statements given to the magazine ‘Politico’. “We hope that this year, in 2023, we can start the pre-entry negotiations stage,” he added, although the bloc contemplates that kyiv’s possible entry will take longer.
Thus, he has shown his desire that Ukraine can achieve “a substantial step forward” when the Ukrainian president, Volodimir Zelenski, holds his next meeting with the president of the European Commission, Ursula von der Leyen, and the president of the European Council, Charles Michel.
Shmigal has specified that these advances could be achieved in various areas, including an agreement on a visa-free regime for industrial goods, the suspension of tariffs for the export of Ukrainian goods for another year, “active progress” for entry into the Zone Single Payment System in Euros (SEPA) and the inclusion of Ukraine in the block’s mobile telephony roaming area.
“We expect progress and the acceleration of our path towards the signing of these agreements”, explained the Ukrainian prime minister, who has stressed that the authorities have “zero tolerance” with corruption, after the latest scandals, which have caused the dismissal of dozens of high-ranking officials, including governors, deputy ministers and even the deputy adviser to the President of Ukraine.
Along these lines, he stressed that the dismissals took place “at the speed of light” after the scandals broke out. “Unfortunately, corruption was not born yesterday, but we are sure that we will put an end to it,” he said, before openly acknowledging that it is one of the crucial points in kyiv’s efforts to gain EU membership.
The Ukrainian prime minister has also pointed out that the government is willing to review its recent legislation on the Constitutional Court –which affects the process of appointing judges– so that it meets the demands of the European Commission, which could happen this very week. “We are holding consultations with the European Commission to see how all the conclusions issued can be incorporated into the text,” he concluded.
