European Commission's report on Ukraine will give understanding on further steps towards EU – Stefanishyna
Ukraine's Deputy Prime Minister for European and Euro-Atlantic Integration Olha Stefanishyna says that Ukraine has become part of a wider puzzle of EU enlargement and that the country must continue reforms.
In a post on her Facebook page, she wrote that Ukraine had done everything it had agreed to do, and that reforms would continue before and after the start of talks on EU membership.
“The comments on the expected report of the European Commission are full of emotions and little understanding of the path that opened before us on June 23 last year. Living in a constant "emotional swings," we often tend to make snap judgments. We do not hear praise behind the criticism; and by focusing on certain things, we lose sight of the main thing," Stefanishyna posted.
In this context, the Deputy Prime Minister noted that the report to be published by the European Commission tomorrow will outline Ukraine's progress ("in fact, incredible progress, as the President of the European Commission said in the Verkhovna Rada") and provide an understanding of further steps.
"But the wording will be restrained. In this context, I would like to emphasize three things: 1) Ukraine is a part of a broader political puzzle of enlargement, and the report will be about that; 2) reforms must continue, there will be no exhaustive list of tasks; 3) the EC report is only the basis, the decision to open the negotiations will be made by EU leaders in December," she noted.
"We may not like it, we may not agree with it, and we may even consider it unfair, but what is important is that we, Ukraine, have already raised the bar very high for all the enlargement countries," Stefanishyna summarized.
As reported, according to an internal document seen by Radio Liberty, the European Commission considers four of the seven criteria set for Ukraine to become a candidate for EU membership to be fully met.