Stefanishyna: Ukraine should be granted EU candidate country status

"Currently, we are just starting a substantive dialogue with the European Commission. My vision is that Ukraine should be granted the EU candidate country status, as well as other countries that are already negotiating accession or have not yet started talks but have clear membership prospects. For example, these are North Macedonia, Serbia, those countries that only intend to become the EU members," Stefanishyna said in an interview with Glavcom media outlet.

The Vice Prime Minister noted that Ukraine had held successful negotiations and agreed to start the assessment of achievement of the Association Agreement objectives and the renewal of the Agreement in the next two or three years.

According to her, this will concern the bilateral agreement but will have an impact on the entire Eastern Partnership region because "our ambitions set the agenda for the entire region."

As Stefanishyna stressed, the Ukrainian authorities have worked systematically to ensure that Ukraine is perceived not only as a separate country undergoing certain stages of transformation but as a country that provides the agenda for the entire region, beyond the EU and NATO.

As reported, Ukraine and the EU agreed to renew the Association Agreement at the summit in Brussels in October 2020.

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