By Lili Bayer and Andrew Gray
BRUSSELS, June 15 (Reuters) - Ukraine opened the first phase of membership talks with the European Union on Monday, a key step in Kyiv’s efforts to anchor itself in Western political structures as it fights Russia’s invasion.
"For us, this is really a Rubicon, a milestone ... moment," Ukrainian Deputy Prime Minister Taras Kachka told reporters after the talks began in Luxembourg. "All Ukrainian society believes that joining the European Union is our dream."
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy has made EU membership a core foreign policy goal, presenting it as a way to ensure long-term prosperity and security for both his country and Europe as a whole in the face of Russian aggression.
At the meeting in Luxembourg, officials began negotiations on a first set of policy issues, where Kyiv will have to undertake reforms to bring its laws into line with EU standards.
While Kyiv enjoys strong support from European governments for its reform efforts and ambition to one day become an EU member, diplomats expect Ukraine’s bid to be complex and lengthy.
In the accession process, candidate countries negotiate policy "chapters" which are grouped into six thematic clusters, including fundamental rights, the EU's internal market and external relations.
EU URGES UKRAINE TO KEEP UP POLITICAL REFORM EFFORTS
The first cluster, opened on Monday under the heading "fundamentals", covers issues such as the judiciary, functioning of democratic institutions and public procurement.
"While Ukraine is gaining momentum on the battlefield, it is also building its path towards a prosperous and secure Ukraine inside the European Union," said EU Enlargement Commissioner Marta Kos, who urged Kyiv to keep up its reform efforts.
"It requires the entire society to come together and seize the momentum that Ukraine is building up," she said.
EU leaders agreed to open accession talks with Ukraine and Moldova in December 2023 but negotiations could not start in earnest due to opposition from the previous Hungarian government to Kyiv's membership bid.
But a new government in Budapest reached an agreement with Kyiv this month on the rights of the Hungarian minority in Ukraine and EU ambassadors on Friday agreed that both Ukraine and Moldova can begin talks on the first cluster of policy areas where they must reform their laws to meet EU standards.
(Reporting by Lili Bayer and Andrew Gray; Additonal reporting by Ron Popeski; Editing by Daniel Wallis)
