Ukraine may join the European Union before 2030, as our country is already integrated into the EU in many sectors. This was stated by Olha Stefanishyna, Deputy Prime Minister for European and Euro-Atlantic Integration and Minister of Justice of Ukraine, in her speech at the Forbes Ukraine Exporters Summit 2025.

Commenting on the words of the President of the European Commission Ursula von der Leyen that Ukraine could become a member of the European Union before 2030, the Deputy Prime Minister noted that the deadline for the implementation of all future obligations for which Ukraine has not declared or will not declare transitional periods is 2027.

"This goal is absolutely realistic. We are already integrated into the European Union in many sectors, including telecommunications services, energy markets, trade, transport, and customs liberalisation. Indeed, there are some controversial issues, but there is also a very high level of integration at this stage," Olha Stefanishyna said.

Speaking about the current stage of the negotiation process, the official informed that Ukraine had completed the official screening of the compliance of its legislation with EU law within Cluster 2: Internal Market.

"In 6 weeks, the European Commission will publish a report on how it sees Ukraine in the European Union's Internal Market. This is the most important stage of the negotiations, which gives us an understanding of where we are, how the European Union sees us, and what tasks we have to complete on this path in the future,’ the Deputy Prime Minister said.

She stressed that today was the best time to develop the capabilities of Ukrainian business in the European Union and warned that even if Ukraine fulfils all its obligations to fully open the Internal Market, this does not mean automatic access to this market for Ukrainian companies.

“When it comes to actual integration into the Internal Market, it is most important that the largest players in the Ukrainian market have the opportunity to deploy their capabilities in the EU before Ukraine's membership or before the end of negotiations,” added Olha Stefanishyna.

Other topics discussed at the panel included: steps towards Ukraine's Euro-Atlantic integration; dialogue with the EU on the CBAM European environmental duty; trade relations between the EU and the United States; and expectations from reforms within the EU.