Negotiations on Ukraine’s accession to the EU will begin in December, but some benefits can be obtained before membership.

As the President of the European Parliament, Roberta Metsola, said, the EU should prepare for the accession of Ukraine as a member state. “I expect a concrete result because the worst signal could be that we have set these people goals and deadlines that we cannot meet ourselves,” she said.

Metsola also said that candidate countries do not have to wait for official acceptance to access certain processes, such as free mobile roaming in the EU. She noted that mobile operators are already prepared for this. Trade barriers for business may also be removed.

“The pre-accession period also means access to funds, access to universities, and the ability to enter the domestic market, regardless of whether we apply import or export tariffs. For years, we have said that Ukraine cannot be connected to the European electricity grid. It took us days to do that when the war started. In the end, it was always about political will,” Metsola said.