Next round of talks on Ukraine's accession to EU will take place in July - Stefanishyna

The next round of negotiations with the European Union on Ukraine's accession will take place in July in a European country.

Vice Prime Minister for European and Euro-Atlantic Integration of Ukraine Olha Stefanishyna said this at a press conference in Luxembourg following the first Intergovernmental Conference between Ukraine and the EU, when asked by an  Ukrinform correspondent about the timing of the next round of negotiations and the possibility of holding them under the Hungarian EU presidency.

"The next meeting of our delegations will take place in July. Where? In Europe," the Deputy Prime Minister said.

She noted that at today's conference, the parties began to agree on a calendar of events in all 33 areas of future negotiations.

"Negotiations on the sectors are just beginning. The government presented its negotiating position, which was approved on Friday. But, of course, in order for today's meeting to take place, we needed the consensus of all 27 EU member states, and we have been working on this for quite some time," Stefanishyna said.

She added that it was a difficult period when there were controversial issues related to trade with neighboring countries, including Poland. Ukraine continued a dialog with Hungary. Some EU countries also questioned whether Ukraine would be able to implement certain commitments under the accession process in the conditions of the war, Stefanishyna said.

"That is why we worked with all the states that finally approved the EU negotiating framework, which made it possible to officially start negotiations today," the deputy prime minister added.

As reported, negotiations on Ukraine's accession to the European Union started at the first Intergovernmental Conference in Luxembourg on June 25.