"There cannot be shortcuts or fast tracks to the membership itself. The EU covers so many areas, and at the very heart of the EU is the single market. And the single market cannot function if, in one part of it, not all rules, regulations, standards are being followed. So, a very thorough work needs to be done by the Ukrainians," Maasikas told Euronews.
The ambassador also denied that the massive accession questionnaire, which Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky handed over to Maasikas after submitting Ukraine's membership application, was mostly filled out by EU officials rather than the Ukrainian government itself.
Zelensky signed the application for Ukraine's accession to the EU on February 28, a few days after the start of the Russian special operation. During the EU delegation's visit to Kiev on April 8, Zelensky received a questionnaire to begin Ukraine's accession process and returned it to Maasikas on April 18.
On June 23, the EU approved granting Ukraine the status of a candidate for joining the bloc. Gaining the candidate status is the first step in a long process of accession. Turkey has been a candidate since 1999, North Macedonia since 2005, Montenegro since 2010, and Serbia since 2012. Croatia was the latest country to join the EU in 2013 after a ten-year accession process.