All negotiation chapters related to Ukraine's accession to the European Union (EU) must be opened by the end of 2025, said Olga Stefanyshyna, Deputy Prime Minister of Ukraine for European and Euro-Atlantic Integration, quoted by "Ukrinform".
"All negotiation tracks must be opened by the end of this year. Now this is a political issue. It is about negotiations, commitments and coordinated work of the parliament and the government. Currently, nearly 4,000 people are engaged in the negotiation teams in all areas, so this condition remains unchanged. Now we are only discussing the date for the launch of the first main block of negotiations. This is the key political decision," Stefanishina said.
According to her, the next steps will include more technical decisions.
"With the assumption of the presidency of the Council of the EU by Denmark on July 1, we agreed that this will be ensured once the first negotiations start. We are confident that by January 1, all chapters will be opened," Stefanishina said.
She also stressed that the launch of negotiations does not require unanimous consent from all 27 EU member states.
"This was the practice in previous years. Today, none of the main EU documents requires unanimous approval to launch negotiations. Therefore, we are working within this framework. The argument raised by the newly elected Polish leader - that this is the start of negotiations, not a final political decision on accession - is completely logical," she said.
Stefanyszyna added that Hungary's attempts to block the opening of negotiation clusters had served as an impetus to explore alternative solutions.
"It has become clear that neither the EU's founding treaties nor the decisions of the European Parliament or the European Council require unanimity to open negotiations. Unanimity is only required when concluding negotiations or specific chapters," she said.
The negotiations will cover nearly 35 chapters, ranging from specific sectoral standards, such as those in agriculture or legal frameworks, to fundamental elements of statehood for a country aspiring to EU membership.
"We have fulfilled all the conditions necessary to open half of our negotiation stages, starting with the basics of EU membership. We are ready to open all three clusters in July, or at least start with the first one, together with Moldova," Stefanishina said.