Vice PM: EU decides on launch of accession talks with no strings attached

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

"In fact, we did not even expect that the decision would be so ‘clean’ because the motion for the decision, tabled by EuCo President Charles Michel at leaders’ discretion, was fully adopted in that form - that is, the decision to open membership negotiations for Ukraine and Moldova. Full stop. Without any conditions," Stefanishyna said.

She added that the transition to the next stage will take place when the final assessment of Ukraine's implementation of all seven steps is provided, which is scheduled for March.

According to the vice prime minister, "this is a decision that Europe itself did not believe in."

"Europe itself did not believe that they were capable of such leadership, but it was really such a moment when it was necessary to protect values, and all 26 EU leaders stood as one to protect the strong Europe we are moving toward," the senior official emphasized.

Commenting on the position of the prime minister of Hungary, who left the session hall during the adoption of the decision before taking to social media to say he considers the EuCo decision "wrong", Stefanishyna noted that for the Ukrainian team, this looked like "Viktor Orbán has left the chat".

"It is important for us that this decision is out there, and Prime Minister Orbán is clearly aware that the decision has been made. Next, everyone will proceed with communication based on their domestic audiences, and we will be doing our thing – we need to move toward the EU, and today we received such an opportunity and the ‘green light,’” stressed the vice prime minister.

As reported, the European Council supported the launch of negotiations with Ukraine on the nation’s accession to the European Union.