Sectoral consultations of the Ukrainian delegation with representatives of the European Commission were held in Brussels as part of preparations for official negotiations on Ukraine's accession to the EU.

The meeting was attended by the Deputy Prime Minister for European and Euro-Atlantic integration – Minister of Justice of Ukraine Olga Stefanishyna, the Deputy Minister for Communities and Territories Development Serhiy Derkach, and the Head of the Mission of Ukraine to the EU Vsevolod Chentsov.

Sectoral consultations are preparations for a bilateral meeting between Ukraine and the European Commission regarding individual sections of the negotiations.

"The Ministry for Communities and Territories Development plays an important role in the European integration of Ukraine, particularly through the implementation of EU legal acts in the field of regional policy, transport and trans-European networks. In total, there are almost 4,000 legal acts, of which about 400 need to be implemented.

Our goal is to create an infrastructure that meets European standards in each region, providing communities with the opportunity to effectively use financial instruments to implement modern transport solutions.

Regarding decentralization, it is the communities that will play a decisive role in implementing these innovations, which will allow qualitative changes at the local level to contribute to sustainable development and increase the quality of people's lives," said Oleksiy Kuleba, the Deputy Prime Minister for the Restoration of Ukraine – Minister for Communities and Territories Development of Ukraine.

"Now is the time to start a systemic transformation in the field of transport policy of Ukraine. We want these transformations to be fully coordinated from the very beginning and oriented towards the future EU accession process. In this area, we have specific sectors that are regulated in detail by EU legislation. Therefore, it is very important for us to streamline the process at the national level with the help of preparatory work. We proposed to hold this meeting to discuss our proposals and coordinate the organization of the process and efforts from both sides," said Olga Stefanishyna.

The "Transport" section includes almost four thousand normative legal acts, of which almost 400 need to be implemented into Ukrainian legislation.

"Ukraine is currently going through an extremely important stage of the negotiation process - the screening of compliance of our legislation with the law of the European Union. The complexity of the transport policy is not simply the number of regulations that need to be implemented but the fact that we are talking about physical infrastructure and technical regulations that must meet EU requirements. The "Transport" section covers all key types of transport: road, rail, aviation, sea, and river, as well as the development of trans-European networks, road management, and socially important transport. This is not only a technical issue – it is the foundation for our further development and integration into the European transport system. Our task is to create conditions under which Ukrainian transport and logistics will become an integral part of the European economic space," said Serhii Derkach.

During the consultations, the participants agreed on a further algorithm for preparing for a bilateral meeting within the scope of screening the compliance of Ukrainian legislation with EU law under the negotiating chapter 14, "Transport Policy.”

In the coming months, the parties will work on all areas of the Section to identify key gaps and develop a framework for legislative approximation in these areas. Next, there will be an official screening of the compliance of Ukrainian legislation with EU law according to the relevant negotiation section.

In June of this year, Ukraine began the negotiation process for joining the European Union. The European Commission is currently analyzing the compliance of national legislation with EU legislation (EU acquis). Sectoral consultations within the screening framework are an important source of information for the European Commission about the state of Ukraine's readiness for EU membership. The screening takes place on 33 negotiating sections, which are grouped under 6 thematic blocks in accordance with the EU enlargement methodology revised in 2020.

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