BRUSSELS, November 7. /TASS/. The European Commission is expected to issue an official recommendation to the European Union on November 8 to begin membership talks with Ukraine and Moldova, Reuters reported on Monday, citing its sources.

According to the sources, these negotiations may start next year once these countries meet the outstanding conditions.

There is no official time limit for such talks. Thus, Turkey embarked on membership talks with the European Union back in 2005 but problems under 16 out of 35 provisions of the so-called negotiating dossier have not been settled until now. In particular, the sides a failing agree the Cypriot problem.

Ukrainian President Vladimir Zelensky signed Ukraine’s application for the EU membership on February 28, 2022. Ukraine and Moldova were granted a candidate status at an EU summit in Brussels on June 23, 2022. The two countries are supposed to meet a number of conditions, including reforms, to begin the negotiating process.

On June 22, 2023, the European Commission released a preliminary report on Ukraine’s readiness for the membership talks. According to the report, Ukraine has fully implemented only two out of seven conditions, namely, it has passed laws on a court reform and on freedom of the mass media. Ukraine’s progress on the Constitutional Court reform was assessed at four on a one to five scale. As for the anti-corruption legislation and laws on minorities, Kiev received three.