Olha Stefanishyna, Ukraine's Deputy Prime Minister for European and Euro-Atlantic Integration, has stated that Kyiv has implemented all of the European Commission's recommendations needed for the EU to approve the framework for Ukraine’s membership negotiations.

As reported by Interfax-Ukraine, Stefanishyna stated that 11 March was the last day Ukraine could provide any additional information.

"The European Commission has to make a decision on 12, 13 and 14 March. First and foremost, whether to approve the report on our fulfilment of additional criteria, as well as decide whether to provide us with a negotiating framework for approval by the member states," Stefanishyna said.

Stefanishyna also stated that on Monday, the Verkhovna Rada's law enforcement committee approved the final legislative act required to complete the implementation of recommendations on lobbying – changes to administrative legislation that establish liability for violations of the previously adopted law on lobbying.

She claimed that Ukraine has "moderately optimistic forecasts".

During a visit to Kyiv last week, Valdis Dombrovskis, Executive Vice-President of the European Commission, confirmed that this week, the EC will prepare draft negotiation frameworks to be recommended for approval by member states once Ukraine meets all requirements.

In January, the European Commission began work on a draft negotiating framework for Ukraine – a document that outlines the principles and procedures for conducting negotiations on EU accession.

An upcoming summit of EU leaders in March is expected to assess Ukraine's recent steps towards starting accession talks. Convening an intergovernmental conference is the official start of accession negotiations.