MP: We need to speak honestly with public about real terms of Ukraine's accession to EU

Ivanna Klympush-Tsintsadze, chairwoman of the Verkhovna Rada Committee on Ukraine's Integration into the EU, said this in a video blog by international expert Ihor Dolhov, Ukrinform reports.

Commenting on the forecast of the EU Ambassador to Ukraine Kateryna Mathernova that the real date of Ukraine's accession to the European community could be 2030, the MP noted that there are even more factors that will affect the speed of this process than there were when the country was fulfilling the requirements for visa-free travel. So, according to her, it is "to some extent guessing on coffee grounds when we will succeed."

"I would like to see us fit into the dates, the timeframe that the Ambassador is talking about. I would like to see us at least not exceed the average period of time that this process took for those countries that succeeded. And this is seven years. I think we have every chance to overcome this within this period of time," Klympush-Tsintsadze said.

She added that it is important to realize this, and that it is "unfair to Ukrainian citizens" to claim that we will be fully ready for membership in two years.

The Chair of the Parliamentary Committee emphasized that the speed of Ukraine's movement towards the EU will depend not only on the European Union's readiness or unwillingness to assess our progress, but also on the involvement of the entire Ukrainian society in the process.

In this context, she noted that we must focus all our efforts to not lose the enormous support among Ukrainian citizens for our progress toward the EU and NATO.

"Because we will see, among other things, the enemy's efforts to create some doubts, to increase the public's misunderstanding of the difficult decisions we will have to make. And we will have to make expensive, difficult decisions. We will have to make decisions that may be painful in the short term, but in fact, in the medium term, and even more so in the long term, will give Ukraine much more opportunities. But all these things require openness, they require platforms for discussion," emphasized Klympush-Tsintsadze.

According to her, it is important that, having discussed all the pros and cons, we come to a decision that everyone has accepted for themselves and is ready to implement.

As Ukrinform reported earlier, the first intergovernmental conference in Luxembourg on June 25 launched negotiations on Ukraine's accession to the European Union.