2030 is quite realistic date of Ukraine's EU accession – EU ambassador

Katarina Maternova, the EU ambassador to Ukraine, considers Ukraine’s EU accession in 2030 quite realistic.

Maternova noted in an interview for the Channel 24 that at the moment to forecast when exactly Ukraine will become an EU member "is the same as to look into a crystal ball for predictions".

At the same time she agreed that 2030, the approximate date proposed by European Council Head Charles Michel, is quite realistic.

"Judging from my own observations, from life in Kyiv, from interactions with the Ukrainian authorities, businesses and media, as well as the extension process in the past I am familiar with, I believe that 2030 is quite a realistic date," she said.

Maternova warned that the war has a big influence on this process, just like the progress in the implementation of reforms.

"But I think that in a completely unpredictable geopolitical environment we live in today, this date is quite realistic," Maternova added.

Earlier Maternova expressed a belief that Ukraine was ready to start EU accession negotiations. The head of the EU diplomatic mission in Kyiv expects them to begin at the end of June.

Maternova also thinks that the Hungarian presidency in the Council of Europe is unlikely to negatively affect the pace of negotiations of Ukraine’s EU accession.