Ukraine could close most of EU accession negotiations within 12-18 months – Kachka

Ukraine plans to complete most of the negotiations on joining the European Union within the next 12-18 months and sign the membership agreement as early as 2027, Deputy Prime Minister for European and Euro-Atlantic Integration Taras Kachka said during Question Hour to the Government in the Verkhovna Rada on Friday.

According to the Deputy Prime Minister, despite last year’s political blockade, Ukraine has carried out active preparatory work at the technical level. Specifically, the European Union communicated to the Ukrainian side the requirements (benchmarks) for opening negotiating clusters in advance.

"In total, we have 145 EU demands. Most of them concern aligning Ukrainian legislation with Union standards, as well as the day-to-day working practices of institutions. All of these demands are realistic. Over the next 12-18 months, we can conclude most of the negotiating sections and move toward signing the EU accession treaty next year," Kachka emphasized.

He clarified that in March, Ukraine received the second set of conditions for the successful completion of technical negotiations on all sections. Technical work with the European Commission is currently underway on all six clusters. The official opening of all negotiating clusters at the intergovernmental conference is expected no later than July. Kachka emphasized that after the signing of the accession treaty, the document will be subject to ratification by the parliaments of the EU member states and Ukraine, which will take several years.

As reported, Kachka told an Interfax-Ukraine correspondent in Brussels that Ukraine is considering the possibility of closing at least one of the negotiating clusters by the end of 2026. To meet 145 criteria across all 34 sections, Ukraine has adopted a National Program, which includes 1,875 measures. The Deputy Prime Minister previously noted that joining the European Union is the number one priority, and that meeting all criteria from member states indicates the country is on track for full membership.

"Considering the sheer volume of tasks involved, I hope we are communicating effectively with ministries and relevant committees. Over the past month, we held eight meetings with parliamentary committees, where we presented all the benchmarks for the sections under the purview of each committee we met with," Kachka said in the Rada.