Ukraine's accession to EU to take more than year or even two - EU Commissioner

Ukraine's accession to the European Union may take "more than a year or two". This is the assessment of enlargement commissioner Olivér Várhelyi, - Liga.net quotes on November 6 with reference to Welt.

Várhelyi believes that "given the large amount of work required to prepare for participation in the EU's internal market and many other important policy areas, preparations for accession are likely to take more than a year or two".

At the same time, Ukrainian Deputy Prime Minister for European Integration Olha Stefanishyna told Welt that Ukraine had begun the integration process even before it received the status of a candidate country. She noted that "a large number of reforms have already been carried out under the supervision of the EU", which makes it possible to speed up the accession process and not use the "standard procedure".

Stefanishyna also refers to the opinion of the Baltic States and other close allies of Ukraine, which support the accelerated accession of Ukraine to the EU

Várhelyi, in turn, insists that the same criteria as to all other candidates should be applied to Ukraine.

As previously reported, Ukraine and Moldova received the status of candidates for EU membership on June 23. A week before, the leaders of Italy, France, Germany and Romania in Kyiv supported the granting of this status to Ukraine.