German ambassador says 2027 target date for Ukraine's EU accession extremely ambitious

The diplomat said this while speaking at a special event of the Kyiv Security Forum titled "12 Years of War. What's Next?", according to an Ukrinform correspondent.

"As for Ukraine's integration into the EU, as a practitioner of European affairs who served in Brussels twice – once in the EU and once in NATO – I believe that friendship needs honesty. I believe that it's an honest assessment that January 1, 2027 would be an extremely ambitious date [for Ukraine's accession to the EU] and I don't think it's realistic, because of the workload that Ukraine has to implement," Thoms said.

He added that Ukraine will need to adopt and then implement "thousands and thousands" of legislative acts in parliament, and all of this takes time.

According to him, even in seemingly simple areas such as pesticides and the implementation of EU legislation in this field, Ukraine will in effect have to rebuild the entire agricultural sector. The same applies to the introduction of EU law in the banking sector.

"This needs time. […] We will do everything in our power to support Ukraine in this process, but the process is, first and foremost, in Ukraine's interests because this will reform the country up to the point that will be very much in the interest of each and every Ukrainian citizen," the diplomat said.

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