The European Union and Ukraine will open six or seven negotiating chapters in January 2025 to screen the streamlining of Ukrainian legislation with European legislation, and the agricultural block will be the most complicated one, Deputy Prime Minister for European and Euro-Atlantic Integration and Minister of Justice of Ukraine Olha Stefanishyna has said on Wednesday.

"One of the lowest grades this year was given to the agriculture sector," she said at the Annual General Membership Meeting of the European Business Association (EBA) in Kyiv.

Stefanishyna said the destabilization is due to the constant uncertainty in trade liberalization, as well as difficulties in the perception of the Ukrainian agriculture business sector in the European Commission due to the rotation of agriculture ministers in Ukraine.

"This year was not a stalemate for the sphere itself. But it was 'negatively positive' for agricultural integration. To be precise, it was negative. We have a one here [in the European Commission's assessment]. This is to understand how the market is assessed now," the Deputy Prime Minister said.

She also drew attention to the fact that there are two planes in the integration of the Ukrainian agricultural sector into the European market. The first is the domestic market and the rules and standards operating on it.

"Without bringing Ukrainian legislation in line with European regulations, there can be no talk about any subsidies or distribution of quotas in the market, because we will not have access to the market, we will not be competitive, but at the same time we will have a fully open market for European companies," the official said.

The second plane of negotiations, according to the Deputy Prime Minister, is the discussion on the Ukrainian agricultural sector against the background of unprecedentedly large financial support of Ukraine as a candidate country to the EU, which was received due to the war, restoration and strengthening of the financial stability of the country.

Stefanishyna emphasized that the Ukrainian government is closely monitoring immobilized Russian assets in the EU. It is not only about financial assets, but about all assets frozen under the sanctions policy that can be transferred to Ukraine to support the economy. Therefore, the discussion in the context of agricultural policy is too narrow, Ukraine will have significantly greater access to resources.

The Deputy Prime Minister said that Ukraine was advised to increase its presence in the markets of third countries to which the EU does not have access. When discussing EU market access, transition periods and time limits, this argument could become an element of a strong negotiating position.

"It is in the EU's sovereign interest to increase its presence in the trading world. Ukraine can ensure this," Stefanishyna said, adding that the world's food security largely depends on Ukraine, as the whole world also knows.