Ursula Von der Leyen made the remark on her way back from Ukraine at the weekend, Polish state news agency PAP reported on Sunday.
The EC chief had visited the war-torn country on Saturday to discuss its bid to become a candidate to join the EU.
During a meeting in Kyiv with Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelensky, von der Leyen said that the EC would “finalise our assessment [of Ukraine's bid] by the end of next week," the Reuters news agency reported.
The EU’s 27 member countries then need to decide whether to allow Ukraine to start negotiations to join the bloc.
'A challenge'
Von der Leyen told reporters that getting all EU members to strike a common position “that will reflect the scale of this historical decision,” would be “a challenge.”
She added: “Ukraine has achieved a lot in the past ten years and there is much still to do. Our assessment will reflect that.”
Von der Leyen stressed: “The path [to the EU] is known, it is a merit-based path forward.”
EU divided on Ukraine entry
So far, the EU has been divided on whether to admit Ukraine, the PAP news agency reported.
The countries of central and eastern Europe, including Poland, would like to see Ukraine in the bloc, as would the likes of Finland, Italy, Spain and Greece.
Meanwhile, the Netherlands, Belgium, Sweden, Denmark and Portugal are in the “sceptical” camp.
Brussels said it would seek a compromise on the issue.
Sunday is day 109 of the Russian invasion of Ukraine.
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Source: PAP, france24.com, euractiv.pl