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Prime Minister Denys Shmyhal stated that thanks to the legal work of the government and parliament, Ukraine has achieved the fastest pace of accession to the European Union among all countries that have ever sought EU membership.
He made this statement during the government’s question hour in the Verkhovna Rada.
Shmyhal was responding to a deputy’s question about the legal compatibility of the positions of Minister of Justice and Deputy Prime Minister being held by the same person.
“In the area of European and Euro-Atlantic integration, there is a vast amount of legal work. This decision (to combine the positions – Ed.) is 100% justified. With the parliament’s support of all necessary draft laws, the government is implementing all required regulatory acts. A huge amount of legal work is underway with the European Commission,” he said.
“In all of this, we are maintaining a fairly high pace. We have great ambitions to become an EU member as soon as possible. And our pace is the fastest among all candidate countries that have ever aspired to join the EU. So this kind of unification [of offices] is justified,” the Prime Minister emphasized.
Shmyhal added that combining the roles of Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Justice is a political demonstration of Ukraine’s priorities. At the same time, according to him, this decision complies with current legislation, the Cabinet of Ministers’ regulations, and the Law “On the Cabinet of Ministers of Ukraine.”
As a reminder, in February, Hungary blocked the opening of the first negotiation cluster with Ukraine and pledged to continue blocking further clusters until “consultations” are held with the public regarding Ukraine’s EU accession.
On March 5, Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán announced a survey on public support for Ukraine’s EU membership.
The Hungarian government insists that Ukraine’s accession to the EU would pose a threat to Hungary, including from agricultural and economic perspectives.
Read also: French foreign minister to visit Kyiv on May 9 together with European colleagues
