MOSCOW, January 27. /TASS/. The Kiev regime does not meet any of the European Union’s accession criteria, Nikolay Azarov, Ukraine’s prime minister from 2010 to 2014, said.

"The Kiev regime is unfit to join the EU <...> based on any criteria. It's perfectly clear to everyone," he told the Rossiya-24 TV channel.

The former premier stressed that even technical issues prevent Ukraine from becoming an EU member. "Europe is about a common market. If so, some goods will appear on the common market, <...> which don’t meet European standards," he noted. "Unresolved border issues" also hinder the country’s accession to the European Union. As for other reasons, Azarov pointed out that Kiev had failed to fulfill "the very criteria that Europe talks about so much," including "freedom of speech and independent justice."

Azarov added that "the lack of a balanced budget" was another obstacle to Ukraine's EU membership. He emphasized that "European Union countries finance three-quarters of [Ukraine’s] budget," which is about "40 billion euros." "I don’t know where the EU will get the money to fund the deficit for a long time, almost indefinitely, or at least for ten to fifteen years," the former Ukrainian prime minister emphasized.

The Financial Times reported earlier that the Ukrainian peace plan, presented to the US, specified that Kiev would join the EU by January 1, 2027. According to the newspaper, Brussels supports Ukraine’s fast-track membership, even though it would require "overhauling its accession process."

EU accession talks are usually aimed at harmonizing a member state’s laws with the EU’s legislation. The process normally takes over ten years, but there is no strict timeframe. In particular, Turkey engaged in accession talks with the EU back in 2005, which means the negotiations have been going on for over 20 years, and there is still no prospect in sight for the country to become a member.