The European Council has approved accession negotiations with Ukraine. This is a historic decision for both Ukraine and the EU.

It seems that the EU has learned from its mistakes and demonstrated the ability to act decisively in times of security challenges.

The relations between Ukraine and the EU have entered a new stage.

Read more in the article by Snizhana Diachenko, Liubov Akulenko, and Dmytro Naumenko from the Ukrainian Center for European Policy - Life after historic EU decision: What should Kyiv do to speed up accession negotiations?

The fact that this decision was made now, rather than postponed until March or, even more so, until June 2024, is crucial. Postponing the decision would not necessarily guarantee smooth consensus.

The green light for accession negotiations with Ukraine (and Moldova) indicates that EU leaders understand the risks of delaying this decision and, therefore, seized the moment skillfully.

Now Ukraine enters the technical stage of the negotiations.

According to the procedure, the European Commission will start preparing the negotiation framework, a key document defining the general principles of the negotiation process with a candidate country.

For example, the candidate country must align its national legislation with EU norms. The negotiation process begins and ends with fundamental reforms. The pace towards full membership depends solely on merits. It is only part of the EU's requirements.

This document is developed for each candidate country separately, but the structure and wording are the same for all candidates.

Simultaneously with the preparation of the "framework," the European Commission will begin screening Ukrainian legislation for compliance with EU law.

This process tends to take place after the intergovernmental conference, but in the case of Ukraine (and Moldova), the European Commission decided not to waste time and start screening immediately after the political decision to open accession negotiations.

Nevertheless, the EU Council can approve the negotiation framework only after Ukraine fully meets the four conditions set by the European Commission in the EU enlargement package.

According to government information, Ukraine is approaching the finish line. All that remains is to adopt a high-quality lobbying law in parliament.

Ukraine can start acting proactively only once it's been accomplished.

This includes not waiting for the screening of the Fundamental Reforms cluster and starting to fulfil initial benchmarks for opening negotiations on these chapters.

Roadmaps must be prepared and approved by the European Commission.

The next stage is the definition of interim benchmarks in the rule of law.

These conditions are also set by the European Commission and are based on the provisions of the mentioned roadmaps. This means that plans for reform actions must be carefully developed, as they will become a real guide for Eurointegration reforms, not just showcase documents.

The experience of Western Balkan countries, however, shows that the European Commission usually formulates interim conditions in general terms without clear requirements and consideration of candidate country's context. This creates room for interpretations, additional EU conditions, and, as a result, prolongation of negotiations.

To avoid this in the case of Ukraine, the Ukrainian Center for European Policy, together with the Center for Political and Legal Reforms, has undertaken the development of recommendations regarding the rule of law, specifically the judicial reform.