EU Commission Says Screening for Ukraine’s Accession to Europe Is Going ‘With Unprecedented Speed’

The screening process to verify Ukraine’s compliance with European legal standards is going at unprecedented speed, according to European Commission spokesman Guillaume Mercier.

The screening of EU-Ukraine legislation is a part of every country’s EU accession process. 

Ukraine applied for EU membership after the beginning of Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022. Ukraine officially received the status of candidate for membership in June 2023 and began EU membership talks in June 2024. 

Now, the EU Commission is going through a bilateral screening process across different areas of EU law that will continue until this fall. 

“This has been made possible thanks to close cooperation between European Commission experts and our Ukrainian partners to make this stage as efficient as possible,” Mercier said in comments to EuroPravda.

He confirmed that Ukraine is ready to open the official talks, known as “Fundamentals,” to discuss when the country can formally launch EU accession negotiations. All 27 EU member states must agree before this step can be taken, and no vote is currently scheduled. 

In February, Hungary, which maintains friendly ties with Moscow, blocked progress on the negotiations, leading to a suspension of Ukraine’s accession process. 

“Discussions [about this] are currently ongoing in the EU Council,” Mercier said.

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Hungary Says It Has Deal With Ukraine on Minority Rights, Ties It to EU Accession Talks

Hungarian Prime Minister Péter Magyar announced that Hungary and Ukraine have reached a “comprehensive agreement” to broaden language, cultural, educational and political rights for roughly 100,000 ethnic Hungarians in Ukraine’s Zakarpattia region, following several weeks of expert-level talks. Kyiv has pledged to write the agreed measures into Ukrainian law, reflecting them in the EU accession action plan. Budapest indicated it would support opening the first negotiating cluster for Ukraine.

The EU’s enlargement plans are a priority for the Commission, and Ukraine is moving towards the EU with steady progress, Mercier added.

“The Commission, for its part, is providing Ukraine with full support – in every possible form,  technical, political, and financial,” Mercier said. “We will continue to do so and maintain active dialogue with all member states.”

In April 2024, the European Union, in partnership with Lithuania, Denmark, and Sweden, officially launched the Ukraine2EU Program – a new initiative aimed at supporting Ukraine.