Ukraine makes progress in reforms needed to join EU - European Commission

BRUSSELS. Sept 1 (Interfax) - The European Commission has said it is hopeful that negotiations will soon start with Ukraine on fundamental issues related to its potential accession to the European Union, adding at the same time that any speculation regarding a timeline for this process is useless.

"Ukraine has already completed a number of essential reforms. It has done so under incredibly difficult circumstances [...]. It has made progress. We have a recommendation to the council to open cluster one and we hope this will be possible soon, but of course the rest of the process it will depend on Ukraine's capabilities of taking forward the reforms that are needed," European Commission spokesperson Arianna Podesta said at a press briefing in Brussels on Monday.

"The long-term prospective of Ukraine to enter into the European Union is a security guarantee itself and it's important that it remains in the hands of the Ukrainians. Then, of course, we cannot prejudge the timing of it," Podesta said.

She was asked by journalists to comment on remarks by European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen, in which she listed Ukraine's accession to the EU among security guarantees for Kiev.

"And then, of course, it (Ukraine's joining the EU) will be also for the member states to confirm," Podesta said.

Without all these conditions, "I cannot speculate in any way" on a timeline for Ukraine's accession to the EU, she said.