Ukraine to complete preparation in days to start EU accession talks, Zelenskiy says

KYIV, March 2 (Reuters) – Ukraine will complete the technical work needed to open negotiations on all topics for its European Union accession process within days, President Volodymyr Zelenskiy said on Monday.

   Zelenskiy reiterated his call on the EU partners to agree on a firm date for Ukraine to join the bloc, saying that would provide an important guarantee of the country’s future security as Kyiv negotiates with Moscow to end the war.

“We are ready, but not all leaders of the European Union are… I mean, not everyone is ready to give Ukraine this opportunity,” Zelenskiy told reporters in a WhatsApp media chat.

Ukraine became a formal EU candidate country in the early days after Russia’s invasion in February 2022.

But so far, Kyiv’s progress through the existing EU process has been held up by Hungary, which has blocked the unanimous approval required to open formally each of the six so-called accession “clusters” of issues to be resolved.

    Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban, who has maintained the bloc’s closest ties with Russia and is facing key elections in April, has also derailed the latest EU aid package to Ukraine, worth 90 billion euros over this year and next. 

Orban has accused Ukraine of stopping Russian oil supplies to Hungary via the Soviet-era Druzhba pipeline, which crosses Ukraine. Ukraine says the pipeline was damaged by a Russian drone attack.

    KYIV SEES EU MEMBERSHIP AS KEY FOR UKRAINE’S FUTURE 

    Kyiv sees membership in the bloc as key to its post-war future. A reference to Ukraine joining the EU at a specifically defined date is included in drafts of a 20-point peace plan that was agreed between Ukraine and the United States and is under negotiation with Russia.

EU officials have said that Ukraine, with a mixed record on transparency, corruption, and the rule of law, may need many years of reforms to meet the EU’s entry criteria.

Zelenskiy repeated on Monday that Ukraine would be technically ready for EU accession by next year and said the timing of its entry into the 27-nation bloc depended on the political will of its partners.

   “If they truly believe in Ukraine, if they want to see Ukraine in the EU, then this is the opportunity: at the end of the war, to give Ukraine a concrete date and not repeat the mistake they made with NATO,” he said.

(Reporting by Yuliia Dysa, Olena Harmash; Editing by Daniel Flynn and Peter Graff)