Brussels is preparing a new report on the possibilities of European Union enlargement, while the EU ambassador to Ukraine, Katarina Maternova, urges Ukraine not to stop on the path of reforms, even if there is still no pan-European agreement on opening negotiation clusters.
She noted that Ukraine's participation in the EU accession process has influenced the EU's approach to enlargement and emphasized the changes in the perception of this process. Maternova stressed that Ukraine has become an example of profound transformations even in the context of conflict, setting a new standard for other candidate countries.
'We have a process, but countries pretended to reform, while we pretended to move towards enlargement. This was perhaps a bit of a cynical conclusion of the past years. But everything has changed dramatically. ... the whole idea of EU enlargement has become something the system has started to work on. It has benefited everyone'
The EU ambassador also acknowledged that Brussels may not be as ready for enlargement as Ukraine had hoped, but emphasized the positive shifts in the EU accession process.
The new European Commission report is expected to provide more detailed recommendations on Ukraine's further steps towards European integration.