Certain unfriendly countries trying to downplay assessment of Ukraine on its way to EU - Vice PM

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

"Today we see that some countries or even some European officials resort to manipulation, trying to squeeze some of their personal wishes into the documents drafted by the European Commission. We also see that there are certain unfriendly countries that are trying to downplay the assessment of Ukraine's progress and, let's say, devalue some of our efforts," the government official said.

Stefanishyna emphasized that the Ukrainian side sees all those efforts and calls on its friends not go give room for manipulation, especially when it comes to Ukraine’s European integration.

"This is first of all the choice of the Ukrainian people, so I am sure that our positions are strong and we will achieve a good political decision in December," the deputy prime minister added.

As reported earlier, in June 2022, Ukraine obtained the status of a candidate for the EU membership. The country is required to fulfill seven criteria related to the fight against corruption, respect for freedoms, and other areas. It is expected that on November 8, the European Commission will publish an assessment of what has been done. The transition to the next stage - accession negotiations - will depend on this assessment. Ukraine hopes that such negotiations will be launched before the end of 2023.