Even During War, Ukraine Says "We Will Accelerate EU Accession as Much as Possible"

Response Document Taking Years Completed in One Month

A view of the southern Ukrainian port city of Mariupol on the 24th of last month (local time), which has been under concentrated attack by Russian forces. In the background, the Azovstal steel plant, a stronghold of Ukrainian resistance, can be seen. After nearly two months of siege by Russian forces, 90% of Mariupol's urban infrastructure has been destroyed. [Image source=Yonhap News]

[Asia Economy Reporter Hyunju Lee] Even amid war, Ukraine is accelerating its European Union (EU) accession process.

On the 2nd (local time), Olha Stefanishyna, Ukraine's Deputy Prime Minister for European Integration, stated in an interview with related media that "Ukraine is very well prepared for the next steps toward EU accession." She added that the second 'questionnaire' for EU accession will be completed by the end of this weekend, and based on this, Ukraine hopes the EU will make a positive decision next month.

On the 18th of last month, Ukraine completed and submitted the first part of the questionnaire, one of the key procedures for EU accession. Earlier, on the 8th of last month, Ursula von der Leyen, President of the European Commission, who visited Ukraine, promised to expedite Ukraine's EU accession process as much as possible and delivered the questionnaire to the Ukrainian side.

Applicant countries for EU membership must provide detailed answers to the questionnaire to demonstrate that their social systems and economic structures meet the EU's evaluation criteria. While it is generally known to take several years to answer all the questions in the questionnaire, Ukraine has managed to complete all responses in just one month.

According to EU officials, after reviewing the responses, the European Commission is expected to decide by the end of June whether to proceed with the next step for Ukraine's EU accession (granting candidate status).

Ukraine has been pursuing EU membership since 2014, after Russia annexed the Crimean Peninsula (Crimea Autonomous Republic) and supported rebels in the eastern Donbas region of Ukraine.