No clear model for Ukraine's EU accession yet, but active discussion underway – Kachka
Deputy Prime Minister for European and Euro-Atlantic Integration of Ukraine Taras Kachka says there is no clear model for Ukraine’s accession to the European Union yet, but active discussion is underway.
"All this legislative work of the Rada is now bringing us very close to meeting the benchmarks… I hope the Rada will maintain this pace of approving EU-related bills. We have around 100 bills in parliament that to one degree or another close benchmarks," Kachka told journalists on Wednesday, commenting on laws passed by parliament this week.
According to him, Ukraine is currently in a situation where the negotiating clusters with the EU are not formally open, but are open in practice.
"This is, roughly speaking, an important nuance for many reasons. In essence, all participants in the process - that is, EU member states, the European Commission, all EU institutions — consider the clusters to be open. That we can open and close clusters together, unanimously," the deputy prime minister said.
At the same time, he added that formally it will first be necessary to open the first cluster and then all subsequent ones, which could happen within a single intergovernmental conference.
"But this is more of a political question. Because we need Hungary… But now our political process is moving in such a way that no one is waiting for the formal opening of the clusters - everyone is waiting for progress on meeting the benchmarks. And this is essentially the decisive element in how quickly we can join the European Union," Kachka stated.
He added that this discussion has become very active, although there is still no clear model for Ukraine’s EU accession.
"This is not a problem - on the contrary, it is a great success, because active discussion is underway, and member states are truly reacting to this very actively," he stressed.
In particular, he said the Nordic-Baltic Eight (a cooperation format between eight countries - Denmark, Estonia, Finland, Iceland, Latvia, Lithuania, Norway, and Sweden) holds a position close to Ukraine’s.
He also added that "very creative work" is underway in Germany, France, and the Netherlands.
"There are many speculative things: it could be this way, it could be that way… But what is certain is that no one has dismissed the idea of working toward having some model of EU accession in 2027. The question is: which one? No one has rejected this proposal. No one has said we will have a Balkan scenario - that you fulfil the benchmarks, then we open the clusters, close the clusters, and then start thinking about an accession treaty, and then spend an eternity ratifying it," the deputy prime minister said.
In his view, certain approaches could be conceptualized in May.
"The EU Council is also actively working on this. So I think that in the first half of the year it will become clear what is what and how," Kachka predicts.
As previously reported, in early April the Cabinet of Ministers approved the National Program for the Adaptation of Ukrainian Legislation to European Union Law (EU acquis).
On March 17, Ukraine unofficially received from the EU benchmarks (criteria) for the last three of the six negotiating clusters. Thus, Kyiv has unofficially received all six negotiating clusters (list in order of transmission by the EU - IF-U): the first (fundamentals of EU accession), the second (internal market), the sixth (external relations), the third (competitiveness and inclusive growth), the fourth (green agenda and sustainable connectivity), and the fifth (resources, agriculture, and cohesion).
On March 19, the European Council noted progress in the technical work on opening the negotiating clusters for Ukraine’s EU membership and stated that they must be officially opened immediately.
