Ukraine could become an EU member in 2030 - European commissioner for enlargement

VILNIUS - Ukraine could join the European Union in 2030, European Commissioner for Enlargement Marta Kos says.

"From the technical point of view, meaning the clean negotiation process what I'm responsible for, yes, it is doable," she told in an interview with BNS during her recent visit to Vilnius.

As reported by BNS, Lithuania wants Ukraine to join the EU on January 1, 2030. Brussels wants Ukraine and Moldova to receive approval for official negotiations this year, but Hungary is delaying consideration of Kyiv's candidacy.

"The case of Hungary is interesting because this country has given the green light to give Ukraine a candidate status. And then it has changed its mind. (...) So on the one hand, we have to bring Ukraine until the end of the accession process. On the other hand, we have to talk to Hungary and to any other member states that would have concern regarding the EU membership of Ukraine," the commissioner said.

In her words, Ukraine is making significant progress in negotiations, despite the ongoing military operations in the country.

"But what we are experiencing now, it's unbelievable sometimes that the country who is fighting the war is at the same time negotiating when we know exactly how difficult this is. For instance, even Sweden, Sweden was until now the fastest... the country with the fastest accession process because it has been the most developed, but even Sweden needed three years," Kos pointed out.

2027, when Lithuania will hold the rotating EU presidency, will be an important year for the expansion of the community, the European commissioner underlined.

"If everything goes right in the technical part of the negotiations, at the end of 2026, we could finish negotiations with Montenegro. So your presidency would be then the one when we will bring the accession treaty for Montenegro to the end. (...) Then Albania announced that - and we are supporting this in the Commission - that it wants to finish the negotiations at the end of 2027. So we will also be closing chapters for Albania. And I hope so that we will be closing a lot of chapters also for Ukraine and for Moldova," Kos said.