This year, Ukraine wants to open all six clusters required for EU accession negotiations. They will try to open the first three clusters in the first half of the year, when Poland holds the EU presidency, and three more in the second half of the year, when Denmark holds the presidency, Prime Minister Denys Shmyhal said at a final press conference.
They want to do this this year to have additional political leverage in future peace talks with Russia. This is the ‘homework’ that the government wants to complete.
‘We want the peace agreement to contain a political decision on Ukraine's accession to the EU. This is our ambition - to put the completed homework on the table of our European partners - I call it that, and then the decision will be up to the EU politicians. It is up to the parliaments and governments of the EU member states to accept Ukraine as a member of the European Union. This is our ambition, our goal, and we are moving towards it stubbornly, persistently, confidently,’ he said.