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Ukraine to start contacts with EU on further steps towards membership on December 18

This was announced by Deputy Prime Minister of Ukraine for European and Euro-Atlantic Integration Olga Stefanishina

MOSCOW, December 15. /TASS/. The contacts between Kiev and Brussels regarding further measures for Ukraine’s accession to the European Union will begin on Monday, Ukrainian Deputy Prime Minister for European and Euro-Atlantic integration Olga Stefanishina has said.

"Literally 15 minutes after the decision was made, I got a call from the European Commission. On Monday, December 18, we will hold talks about our future steps," the Strana media outlet quoted Stefanishina as saying.

On December 14, the European Union has decided to start negotiations on the admission of Ukraine and Moldova, as well as to grant candidate status to Georgia. Accession talks do not set concrete timeframes for a country's admission to the EU, they can continue indefinitely. For example, talks on Turkey’s EU membership were launched back in 2005 and prospects are still unclear.

This summer, EU countries rejected European Council President Charles Michel’s proposal to pledge Ukraine that it will join the EU no later than 2030.

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