Poland will not block the opening of negotiating clusters on Ukraine’s accession to the EU

Poland will not object to the opening of all six negotiating clusters on Ukraine’s accession to the EU, Poland’s Minister of Foreign Affairs Radosław Sikorski assured, Interfax-Ukraine reports.

“I want to confirm that negotiations on Ukraine’s accession to the European Union will not be easy. Just as our negotiations were not easy when we joined. But Poland will not block the opening of the negotiating clusters. This does not mean that we will be able to quickly conclude the negotiations”, - he said at a press conference with his Ukrainian counterpart Andrii Sybiha in Kyiv on Sunday.

The minister added that, according to the European Commission, Ukraine is already ready for negotiations. Sikorski expressed hope that Ukraine would also complete the process of implementing the Association Agreement, in particular the agreement on the Deep and Comprehensive Free Trade Area.

“You can be part of the single market even before you join the European Union”, - the Foreign Minister added.

He assured that Poland would jointly seek, both at the UN and at other forums, to increase international assistance to Ukraine, as well as put pressure on those who “still have russian assets so that they never return to the aggressor and so that we do not wait for the reconstruction of Ukraine, but use them so that the amount of reconstruction required is smaller, so that Ukraine can simply defend itself”.