How Ukraine will negotiate EU membership and what Hungary plans to do

What happened on Tuesday seemed utterly impossible over two years ago, but it has been eagerly anticipated in the last year.

On 25 June in Luxembourg, the European Affairs Ministers of all EU member states and the Ukrainian government delegation announced the formal start of accession negotiations with Ukraine.

Read more about what happened in Luxembourg, whether the start of accession negotiations between Ukraine and the EU is final and what requirements Ukraine will face in the article by Sergiy Sydorenko, a European Pravda editor (from Brussels) – EU opens a page of history. What EU accession negotiations bring to Ukraine and what challenges lie ahead.

Kyiv and Brussels were in a hurry to open accession negotiations, which has been no secret for a long time.

Since the EU was preparing for the European Parliament elections, the start of the Ukrainian (and Moldovan) negotiations was postponed until after the voting, but with the condition to make it happen by the end of June.

The reason is that from 1 July, Hungary would gain more powers as the presiding state over the EU Council for six months. Starting negotiations with Ukraine during Hungary’s presidency was almost impossible.

Delaying the launch of the process for another six months would have been humiliating for all others involved.

Thus, all resources were mobilised to advocate for June, and eventually, it succeeded.

According to usual EU procedures, the announcement of the formal start of accession negotiations is more symbolic than substantive. It does not achieve any compromises or agreements. It starts a legal process that ultimately should lead to Ukraine's full EU membership.

But Ukraine's path here also proved to be unique.

Simultaneously with the launch of the negotiations, it was necessary to negotiate a trilateral compromise between Ukraine, the EU and Hungary – an openly anti-Ukrainian and pro-Russian government, which is an EU member but often acts contrary to the common European position. To get greenlit, Ukraine had to "legalise" 11 demands posed by Hungary.

The fact that these demands are not public and, according to numerous sources, are vague makes it challenging.

In the next six months, there will be no public events regarding the negotiations.

The upcoming months also coincide with a change of power in the EU. Moreover, preparing for the next steps objectively requires time.

However, early 2025 will open a new window of opportunity for Ukraine.

From 1 January, Poland – an unconditional partner and advocate for Ukraine’s political integration into the EU – will preside over the EU Council. The real start of negotiations between Ukraine and the EU is expected during Poland’s presidency.

The first step will be opening one or several chapters from the "fundamental block" – for example, the chapter on justice, or freedoms and security, or public procurement. This decision, as they say in Brussels, has not yet been made.

Afterward, the speed will largely depend on Ukraine.

Six months between the first Intergovernmental Conference and the opening of the first chapters is a very ambitious goal.

During this time, Ukraine, together with the EU, must complete the screening of all fundamental chapters (analysing Ukrainian legislation for compliance with EU law).

Next, several action plans need to be formed and agreed upon with the European Commission regarding sections on the rule of law, minority protection, the functioning of democratic institutions, public administration reform, etc.

No state currently negotiating accession has carried out this work in such a short time, but the government is confident that the goal is realistic.