Political consensus in place to launch Ukraine’s EU accession talks - Vice PM

This was stated by the Deputy Prime Minister for European and Euro-Atlantic Integration Olha Stefanishyna, who spoke on the air of the national telethon, Ukrinform reports.

"Today there is a political consensus to open political negotiations, but before the decision is made we have a lot of political steps to take – not only to fulfill the seven recommendations. We will have to politically communicate with each EU member state and discuss expectations once talks are launched," said the government official.

Stefanishyna noted that this week she had the opportunity to present Ukraine’s progress at the foreign affairs ministerial in Brussels.

"I can confirm that we have laid an absolutely solid foundation for a political decision already this week. Both the parliament and government have adopted decisions that effectively cover a number of recommendations out of these seven. We expect the European Commission to give us a positive assessment," the Vice PM added.

Also, she noted that the most difficult recommendation is on the issue of minority rights in Ukraine, since its implementation depends not only on Ukraine, but also on Hungary, Romania, Bulgaria, and Greece.

"We maintain the dialogue in this direction. Last year, the Ukrainian delegation worked in Budapest to discuss issues of the educational process. I can confirm that dialogue is ongoing, and on Tuesday, at the meeting with the ministers, I assessed our progress constructively enough, so we hope that this will not be another stumbling block," said Stefanishyna.

As Bloomberg reported with reference to sources, the European Commission is set to recommend that member states kick off membership negotiations with Ukraine.