President of Ukraine, Volodymyr Zelensky, said that the authorities in Kiev are making every effort to start negotiations for membership of the European Union in 2023.

“We are doing everything we can so that Ukraine will be ready this year to start negotiations for membership in the European Union,” Zelensky said in a video message he posted on his Telegram channel.

Earlier, the Ukrainian Deputy Prime Minister for European and Euro-Atlantic Integration Affairs, Olga Stefanyshina, said that the Ukrainian authorities do not have enough time to implement all the seven recommendations of the European Commission, which are specified to reach the status of a “candidate for European Union membership, before October, but they are working on these matters.

On February 28, 2022, Zelensky signed the application for Ukraine’s accession to the European Union. The heads of state and government of the European Union agreed at the Brussels summit held on June 23, 2022 to grant Ukraine and Moldova the status of a “candidate for joining the union.

However, the European Commission, within its recommendations, identified seven conditions for granting Ukraine the status of a candidate to join the European Union, including judicial reform, which is the most comprehensive condition among the conditions of the European Union, as the Ukrainian government needs to reform the Constitutional Court, complete reforms in the Supreme Judicial Council, and in the Supreme Committee for Rehabilitation judges, in addition to continuing to fight corruption.

Source: National Iraqi News Agency