Sikorski: Ukraine will join the EU only when both sides are ready

Polish Foreign Minister Radosław Sikorski said that Ukraine will join the European Union only when both sides are ready for it.

His words were reported by Polskie Radio.

Sikorski welcomed Ukraine’s transition from candidate status to that of a country conducting accession negotiations. According to him, this scenario gives Brussels and Kyiv a final goal. At the same time, the minister noted that joining the European Union is becoming increasingly difficult.

“The technical negotiations alone took us perhaps seven years. We must be sure that Ukraine will be ready, that we will be ready, and that the enlargement will be a success for both sides. Therefore, all criteria must be fully met… Ukraine will join the Union when both it and we are ready for that,” Sikorski said.

On June 14, the Guardian reported that Kyiv had fulfilled only a quarter of all the reforms agreed with the European Union under a 10-point plan.

Hungarian Prime Minister Péter Magyar also weighed in on the topic, noting that the start of Ukraine’s EU accession negotiations would be only the first stage of a lengthy process that could take a long time.