Deputy Head of the Office of the President of Ukraine, Ihor Zhovkva,  insists that the European Commission will prepare its conclusion on Ukraine's readiness to obtain candidate status significantly faster compared to other countries before.

He said this in a comment to "European Pravda", commenting on the results of talks between President Volodymyr Zelensky and European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen.

Mr.Zhovkva confirmed that an agreement had been reached on an accelerated procedure that Kyiv expects will lead to Ukraine obtaining the EU candidate status.

"The conversation between the two leaders was devoted to only one issue - the Brussels bureaucracy to start the procedure of considering Ukraine's application. As of today, we can say that the European Commission has already started preparing its official opinion on Ukraine's compliance with the Copenhagen criteria."

According to EU rules, candidate status can only be granted to a state that meets the so-called "Copenhagen criteria" for the country's political and economic readiness to start accession negotiations.

Ihor Zhovkva stressed that filling in a large questionnaire (similar to the Western Balkan states, which were the last to receive candidate status) is out of the question. Instead, Kyiv and Brussels are currently in dialogue to get the [commission] opinion.

"We are not talking about bureaucratic procedures now. Our goal and the goal of the European Commission is to get a convincing conclusion. And today Ursula von der Leyen literally said that the documents for Ukraine, as a rule taking years and years to be prepared, will be prepared during months", - he explained, adding that the procedural issues regarding the implementation of this political decision, agreed at the level of presidents, are entrusted to the European Commission and the Government of Ukraine.

The deputy head of the President's Office explained that the fact that Brussels already has enough data on the progress of reforms in Ukraine will help speed up this process. "Ukraine has done a lot of work in implementing the Association Agreement, Accession to ENTSO-E, etc. The European Commission is ready to take into account the work already done to speed up the preparation of its opinion regarding our readiness for candidate status," said Igor Zhovkva.

As previously reported, on Friday, Zelensky discussed with the head of the European Commission the path to EU membership.

Read in detail about the procedure and political agreement on the Movement of Ukraine to the EU in the article (in Ukrainian) "The Road to Membership: What Was Promised and What Was Slowed Down at the Ukrainian EU Summit".

Also, read an explanatory about the way to speed up the process: "How Ukrainians abroad can determine the future of the state"