Very tough discussion on Ukraine's EU membership ahead – Lithuanian Foreign Minister
Lithuanian Foreign Minister Gabrielius Landsbergis expects a positive assessment from the European Commission on Ukraine's readiness to start negotiations on EU membership, but stated that further discussions at the level of heads of state would be difficult.
Source: LRT with reference to Landsbergis’ statement, reported by European Pravda
Details: Landsbergis said that the visit of European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen to Kyiv indicated that she probably would not come with bad news.
Landsbergis emphasised that the next steps still need to be approved by the EU Council.
"The discussion there will be very difficult. The European Union has been paralysed on many issues for almost a year," the minister said.
Background: The European Commission said that Ukraine has fully met four of the seven criteria needed to grant Ukraine the status of a candidate for EU membership. The other three criteria are accompanied by recommendations from the European Commission for further implementation.
According to Bloomberg, the European Commission is likely to recommend that member states begin formal negotiations with Ukraine after all seven criteria for candidate status are met.
However, the sources noted that the final wording of the European Commission's opinion has not yet been approved.
Olha Stefanishyna, Ukraine's Deputy Prime Minister for European and Euro-Atlantic Integration, said that the wording on Ukraine's progress in the long-awaited European Commission report will be "concise", but that the leaders’ final decision to open negotiations is still to come.
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