Kuleba: European Council to consider four issues regarding Ukraine

This was stated by the Minister for Foreign Affairs, Dmytro Kuleba, who spoke with the media in Brussels in Monday, an Ukrinform correspondent reports.

The top diplomat noted that the upcoming meeting of the European Council will be a challenging one, since enlargement is a major process that covers not only Ukraine.

"Four issues related to Ukraine will be discussed. The first is the opening of accession negotiations, the second is the approval of the Ukraine Facility, which will ensure macro-financial stability in Ukraine, the third is continued financing of the European Peace Facility, so that the EU can provide Ukraine with lethal and non-lethal aid, and the fourth is the approval of the 12th package of sanctions," Kuleba said.

He added that all these issues are important, but the key is the decision to launch accession talks.

"I don't even want to talk about the devastating consequences should the European Council be unable to pass this decision, not only with regard to Ukraine, but in the broader context of the enlargement process. We have done our homework and we expect the EU to deliver on its part," the minister said.

According to Kuleba, Ukrainian diplomats will continue to work with individual member states in the runup to the meeting of the European Council.

On November 8, the European Commission recommended that the European Council open negotiations on the accession of Ukraine and Moldova to the EU. It also recommended, under certain conditions, to open negotiations with Bosnia and Herzegovina and grant the status of a candidate country to Georgia.

On December 14, the European Council is to consider the issue of launching negotiations on Ukraine's accession to the EU.

During its meeting on December 9, the Verkhovna Rada approved an appeal to the EU member states and institutions with a request to support the opening of negotiations on Ukraine's accession to the EU.