EU to provide Ukraine with benchmarks for three remaining clusters on March 17 — Deputy PM Kachka
The European Union will provide Ukraine on the morning of March 17 with a list of benchmarks (accession criteria) for the last three of six negotiating clusters, in addition to benchmarks for three other clusters that were transmitted earlier, Deputy Prime Minister for European and Euro-Atlantic Integration Taras Kachka said.
"On March 17 they will transmit these benchmarks to us. After that, everything depends entirely on us — to fulfill these requirements, which are not extraordinary," Kachka said at NV Dialogues in Kyiv on Thursday, dedicated to European integration.
He clarified to Interfax-Ukraine that this concerns the third (competitiveness and inclusive growth), fourth (green agenda and sustainable connectivity) and fifth (resources, agriculture and cohesion) clusters.
Ukraine has already received EU benchmarks for three other clusters: the first (fundamentals of EU accession), second (internal market) and sixth (external relations).
Kachka said at NV Dialogues that transmission of the final benchmarks was scheduled for March 3, but due to shelling of Cyprus and problems with flights there, the date was postponed by two weeks.
The deputy prime minister explained that in addition to fulfilling all benchmarks, another 6-7 months are needed to draft the actual accession treaty with the European Union.
"And if this is done sequentially, then we really do come out to 2028 for signing the accession treaty. But if this work is done not sequentially but in parallel, then we can save a year. We can work on it already now. And this is our proposal to the European Union," Kachka said.
According to him, with such a parallel approach, the political ambition to join the European Union in 2027 can transform into a rational decision that in 2027 Ukraine will sign, at a minimum, an accession treaty with the EU.
The deputy prime minister added that further completion of accession requires ratification in 27 countries — about 100 different votes, which could take another 1.5-2 years.
"In France, for example, it’s either a referendum or three-fifths of the full composition of both chambers of parliament. In Belgium it’s about seven ratifications in each region, in each chamber," Kachka explained why there are about 100 votes even though there are 27 EU members.
