European Commission plans to open talks on Ukraine’s EU membership this month: FT

The European Commission intends to recommend starting negotiations with Ukraine on its accession to the European Union this month, the Financial Times reported, citing sources.

 

According to it, the European Commission wants to show support for Ukraine in this way before the start of Hungary’s EU presidency. On Friday, the European Commission will announce that Ukraine now meets the necessary criteria to join the community, including anti-corruption measures, restrictions on political lobbying, asset declaration rules for civil servants and protection of languages used by national minorities, the sources said.

 

The newspaper said that Moldova’s accession to the EU will also be discussed on Friday. At the same time, the EU will not address the issue of Georgia’s accession because of the foreign agents law adopted by the country, which has been repeatedly criticized by European countries.

 

According to the newspaper’s sources, Brussels hopes to hold the first round of negotiations on June 25, before the Hungarian presidency, fearing objections from its side. A senior EU diplomat told the Financial Times that Budapest was concerned about the violation of the rights not only of Hungarians but also of other minorities in Ukraine. This includes the refusal to use non-Ukrainian languages, which is not in line with the European Commission’s official conditions. A spokesman for the Hungarian government has not yet commented on this information to the newspaper.