ECONOMIC TRANSFORMATION OF UKRAINE IN THE CONTEXT OF THE IMPLEMENTATION OF THE CANDIDATE STATUS OF THE EUROPEAN UNION

Abstract

The article analyses the political and economic problems of Ukraine related to the implementation of the EU candidate status. The transition period for each country involves the implementation of political and economic reforms. It is noted that Ukraine was relatively stable in the macroeconomic clan before the war, despite the fact that inflation was traditionally higher than in other candidate countries. The peculiarity for Ukraine is that the reforms are being implemented in the context of Russian military aggression. The authors pay special attention to the specifics of this fact. In June 2022, Ukraine received the status of a candidate for membership in the European Union. This poses a number of new challenges for our country in terms of reforming national legislation in terms of its entry into the European integration space. To start accession negotiations, Ukraine must fulfil 7 candidate criteria. After that, negotiations on direct accession to the European Union will begin. The authors analyse the fulfilment of the mandatory criteria, their features and possible prospects, and believe that reforms will continue before and after the start of the EU membership negotiations. On 8 November 2023, the European Commission recommended that EU states start accession negotiations with Ukraine and Moldova. Ursula von der Leyen noted that Ukraine has implemented more than 90% of the recommendations put forward to it along with the granting of candidate status. The authors of the article consider the next steps in the preparation of the National Programme for the Adaptation of Ukrainian Legislation to EU Law and analyse the political and economic reforms that should be carried out in the near future. European integration processes should be based on the realisation that there are objective problems and contradictions not only in Ukraine but also in the EU countries. Therefore, the political and economic reforms being carried out in Ukraine should be coordinated with the changes taking place in the EU. The conclusions state that integration into the European Union is possible under certain conditions, which will be united by a national idea.