The Verkhovna Rada (Ukrainian Parliament) has carried out all the recommendations that the EU Commission required to start the negotiations about Ukraine’s EU accession.

"We can definitely say that the Verkhovna Rada has done its part of the work and approved all the necessary systemic draft laws to fulfil the EU Commission’s recommendations," website of the Parliament cites Ruslan Stefanchuk, the Speaker of the Verkhovna Rada 

Stefanchuk reminded the press that Ukraine received the recommendations on 23 June when it acquired the status of candidate for EU membership.

Stefanchuk listed all the laws and necessary decisions that Ukraine needed to adopt as a candidate for EU membership and which the Verkhovna Rada has approved over the last six months.

These include:

- Reform of the Constitutional Court; the law amending certain legislative acts of Ukraine to improve the rules on selecting candidates for the office of judge of the Constitutional Court of Ukraine on a competitive basis; 

- The law on media; 

- The law on national minorities; 

- Anti-money laundering laws (the law on financial monitoring; the law on ratifying the Additional Protocol to the Council of Europe Convention on the Prevention of Terrorism; and the law amending the law on the prevention and counteraction of the legalisation (laundering) of the proceeds of crime, funding of terrorism and funding of proliferation of weapons of mass destruction).

- Stefanchuk added that the Verkhovna Rada has also continued its reform of the courts by selecting two members of the Supreme Council of Justice via its quota.

- Stefanchuk emphasised that Ukraine is on course to achieve full membership of the European Union.

Read more: Ukraine's Actions to Start EU Accession Negotiations: Detailed Plan and Analysis

On 23 June, Ukraine officially received the status of a candidate for EU membership.

Dmytro Kuleba, the Minister for Foreign Affairs, has stated that Ukraine joining the European Union is not just a remote prospect; it could happen considerably faster if both Ukraine and the EU are prepared to act quickly.