EU set to move ahead on Ukraine membership bid with conditions

The European Union’s executive arm will meet later Tuesday to finalize a decision on whether to recommend formally opening Ukraine’s membership talks, with expectations of a positive outcome for Kyiv but with conditions attached.

The European Commission will likely recommend that member states open formal negotiations upon the completion of reforms and legislation on minorities, anti-corruption as well as “de-oligarchization” and lobbying, according to people familiar with the matter and documents seen by Bloomberg.

The move comes as the EU looks to inject impetus into its enlargement policy following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine and Moscow’s attempts to destabilize Europe.

The final wording of the opinion was yet to be finalized, said the people, who asked not to be identified because the process is private.

When Ukraine was granted candidate status last June, the EU set out seven steps that Kyiv needed to enact in order to move forward with the accession process. Ukraine has completed four of those milestones — relating to the judicial, media independence and money-laundering — but several actions in the other areas remain outstanding, the people said.

The commission’s opinion, which will be released Wednesday, will need to be approved by member states when EU leaders meet in December for a summit.

The fulfillment of the four conditions was reported earlier by Ukraine’s Radio Svoboda.