Ukraine to officially start accession talks with EU on Tuesday

On Tuesday, June 25, Luxembourg will host the first Intergovernmental Conference on Ukraine's accession to the EU, which will officially launch negotiations on Ukraine's membership in the European Union.

This was reported by Yevropeiska Pravda.

On June 21, the EU Council approved the negotiation framework for Ukraine and Moldova. This paved the way for the official launch of accession negotiations.

An intergovernmental conference with Ukraine is scheduled for 16:30 Kyiv time. It will be followed by a similar first intergovernmental conference on Moldova's accession to the EU, scheduled for 19:00 Kyiv time.

The day before, a European diplomat said that the conference would consist of three parts: an opening statement by Belgium as the EU presidency; a statement by Ukraine; and speeches and remarks by member states.

At the conference, the EU will present Ukraine with a general framework for negotiations that sets out the key principles of the negotiation process.

Ukraine's delegation will be headed by Deputy Prime Minister for European and Euro-Atlantic Integration Olha Stefanishyna, and the European delegation will be led by Belgian Foreign Minister Aja Labib.

The intergovernmental conference will formally launch the talks, and the negotiations themselves will actually begin with the opening of negotiating chapters. Chapters and clusters dealing with fundamental issues of the European Union will be opened first.

The optimistic forecast that Ukraine is counting on is that the first chapters or the first chapter will be opened in early 2025.

Author - Dmitriy Levchenko, 25/06/2024