Ukraine’s integration with the European Union (EU) is not on the agenda, but harmonization of Ukrainian laws with European ones may, at a minimum, take six to seven years, Head of the EU Delegation to Ukraine Hugues Mingarelli has said.
“Ukraine’s EU integration is not on the agenda. Our goal, the goal of the Ukraine-EU association, is political association and economic integration. But not integration of Ukraine into the EU,” Mingarelli said during the conference, titled “Ukraine-EU: Integration in a Changing World,” which was held on June 29 in Kyiv.
According to the diplomat, the next step after providing Ukraine with the visa-free regime and finishing the process of ratifying the Ukraine-EU Association Agreement should be the implementation of agreements, as well as bringing Ukrainian legislation in line with European laws.
In addition, Ukraine should focus on integrating with the EU single market.
“Tariff barriers are not the major problem. The main obstacles are not tariff barriers, but technical barriers for trade. In order to overcome this Ukrainian legislation must be brought in line with European laws. That takes years. If we are optimists, we, let’s say, should expect it will take six or seven years. If we are realists, taking into consideration what we have done in countries of central Europe, it may take even more time,” Mingarelli said.
The diplomat said Ukraine has implemented many reforms over the past three years in the political and economic spheres.
