The Deputy Prime Minister for European Integration Olha Stefanishyna states that the first evaluation of the European Commission regarding Ukraine's progress in fulfilling the "candidate criteria" will be presented in May, and by then, Kyiv will complete the implementation of most of them.

Stefanishyna claims the assessment presentation will be preceded by a discussion between EU member states and Ukraine in March. The first formalised assessment is expected only in late spring.

"We expect that in May, when a meeting of the General Affairs Council is scheduled, we will hear an assessment. Perhaps preliminary talks will also occur in Kyiv during visits of various levels. I will participate in an informal meeting of the Council on General Issues on March 20 and discuss all seven recommendations to determine a specific date (presentation of the European Commission assessment)," Stefanishyna said to "European Pravda."

The EU, granting Ukraine candidate status, defined seven criteria, a mandatory condition for accession, including the start of negotiations on Ukraine's EU accession.

There are only expert assessments of how Ukraine fulfills the "candidate requirements." The official EU assessment will be known first in October. However, to help Kyiv identify problematic issues, the European Commission agreed to present an "oral interim assessment" of Ukraine's progress in the spring. The date is yet to be announced.

The EU Council on General Issues has a scheduled meeting on May 30 in Brussels. Still, according to Stefanishyna, representatives of the EU member states can meet separately to consider the Ukrainian issue, and "the date of this meeting has not yet been determined."

"I will invite my colleagues to Ukraine and I believe that a General Affairs Council meeting could take place in Kyiv," she explained to EP.

Stefanishyna also believes that Ukraine will almost fully complete the implementation of the seven criteria by that time.

"Several blocs have already been politically completed, technical issues remain... There will remain tasks related to implementing the law on national minorities," she explained.

In particular, according to the deputy prime minister's assessment, the Verkhovna Rada will, by that time, pass a law on the advertising market in Ukraine, which will allow Kyiv to declare the fulfillment of the criteria for media reform.

"The head of NABU has been appointed. The concept of reforming law enforcement agencies has been prepared and must be approved by the president's decision. The process of selecting members of the expert advisory group will be completed. Thus, we are closing the anti-corruption, law enforcement, and judicial bloc," she explained.

Olga Stefanishyna is also confident in the positive assessment of the reform of the system of selection of judges of the Constitutional Court. However, Ukraine will not appoint the seventh member of the Advisory Group of Experts (DGE), as initially recommended by the Venice Commission. Instead, Ukraine will make other changes to the selection procedure, which will give international experts the right to jointly block the selection in case of disagreement with Ukrainian colleagues.

"We did not find any legal grounds for having a seventh expert. We negotiated with the Venice Commission and the European Commission. We agreed that the selection model of Constitutional Court judges would be based on the models used for other judicial bodies, such as the Supreme Council of Justice. In particular, the decision of the SCJ will be adopted by four votes," she explained.

According to the Deputy Prime Minister, this approach was supported by the European Commission: "We have agreed with the European Commission and will continue to talk about how to launch the competition - expected in late April."

Also, Stefanishyna's calculation is based on the fact that the EU will include the "anti-oligarchic" criterion, even though Ukraine is in no hurry to implement it in its initial form.

Instead, the government promises to shift to reducing the influence of oligarchs through anti-monopoly and anti-corruption measures without drawing up a controversial "oligarch register." "In times of war, naming and shaming, i.e., naming certain persons who are subject to this law, is not a priority," the Deputy Prime Minister explained.

As "European Pravda" reported, as of late January, the fulfillment of the seven criteria was assessed by experts at 5.8 points out of 10, but the assessment significantly increased from the previous review. After that, the increase in technical compliance with the criteria continued.