By KYIV. Nov 8 (Interfax-Ukraine) – European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen has said that if the EU Council opens negotiations with Ukraine on EU accession, work on the process can begin immediately.
Answering the question of an Interfax-Ukraine agency correspondent about when exactly one can expect the real start of negotiations with Ukraine and how long they will last, von der Leyen said that it depends on the speed of reforms.
“We give today the recommendation to open accession negotiations. This is very important to the Council. The council then takes the political decision. We have a European Council mid December. Then this will be on the table. If the Council takes the political decision to say ‘yes’, we take the recommendation of the Commission and open accession negotiations, the work can start immediately. It’s very technical,” the President of the European Commission said.
At the same time, she pointed out that Ukraine needs to finish work on several reforms, as indicated in the recommendation of the European Commission.
“And by March we will the report on the progress. But we can start immediately when the European Council has given ‘green light’ in its decision in December,” von der Leyen noted.
