Ukraine needs accelerated NATO accession, adapted accession to EU - diplomat Chaly

He spoke about this on Espreso TV.

According to the diplomat, Ukraine will need several years to complete the process of European integration. "It is not one year or two, as Minister Shmyhal said. I am against his statement about two years - it is unrealistic. To be honest, even two years is not enough. They say accelerated accession, we need accelerated accession to NATO, and we need to adapt our accession to the EU so that we gradually adjust to the new rules for us, so that it does not kill our agricultural producers. These standards, when you start reading them, we are still very far from them in some sectors," Chaly said.

He emphasized that Ukraine fulfills the conditions of the section on foreign policy and security of the European Union better than Hungary, but there are more than 30 such sections. "The negotiation process will be very complicated, not only with individual countries, but also with Brussels and officials; we need to put together a powerful team for each section, following the example of Poland, which is about several thousand experts, but when we get there and the next political decision on joining the EU is made, we will get a huge boost for the country's development, as Poland and other countries have received: GDP growth, wages, growth of everything. However, the only problem on this path is that people must understand that the pathos is over now, and there will be a very difficult, gradual process," Chaly summarized.

At the same time, Andrius Kubilius, member of the Security Council of the Kyiv Security Forum, Member of the European Parliament, Prime Minister of Lithuania in 1999-2000 and 2008-12, said that Ukraine could become an EU member by 2030.

What is known about Ukraine's accession to the EU

On November 8, the European Commission recommended starting the process of negotiations on Ukraine's accession to the EU.

European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen stated that Ukraine was successfully moving forward with European integration and was fighting hard for European values, so Ukraine's membership in the EU would mean its ultimate victory.

Subsequently, Slovak Prime Minister Robert Fico said that he believed Ukraine was not ready for EU membership, but would not block the start of accession negotiations.

At the same time, Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez called for negotiations to begin by the end of 2023.

On November 13, members of the European Parliament called on the Council of Europe to decide on December 14-15 to start negotiations on Ukraine and Moldova's accession to the EU.

At the same time, Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban, who arrived at the EU summit, said that his position had not changed: Ukraine is not ready to join the EU.

On Thursday, December 14, the European Council decided to start accession talks with Ukraine and Moldova, and also granted candidate status to Georgia. The EU is ready to start official negotiations on December 18.