European Commission ready to open first negotiation clusters with Ukraine, but conditions possible
The European Commission is ready to open the first negotiation clusters with Ukraine in 2025 if the necessary conditions are met.
The communiqué issued by the European Commission in connection with the presentation of an enlargement report, which describes the progress of the candidate countries, notes that the initiation of negotiations with Ukraine in June this year was an important acknowledgement of its efforts to align more closely with the EU and that the review of Ukrainian legislation for compliance with European law is progressing smoothly.
"Subject to Ukraine meeting all the conditions, the Commission is looking forward to the opening of negotiations on clusters, starting with the fundamentals, as soon as possible in 2025," the communiqué said.
Notably, the word "clusters" is used in the plural.
In his speech, European Commissioner for Neighbourhood and Enlargement Negotiations, Olivér Várhelyi, did not specify the conditions for opening the clusters, stating only that this would be possible once Ukraine completed the legislative screening.
Negotiations on the accession of new member states to the EU are divided into 35 chapters, grouped into 6 clusters, which are opened in turn.
The draft EC report, previously seen by journalists, states that Ukraine has fulfilled all the conditions outlined in the European Commission's 2022 opinion on granting candidate status, including provisions on national minority rights, despite Hungary's position that Ukraine's progress remains insufficient.
Olha Stefanishyna, Ukraine's Deputy Prime Minister for European and Euro-Atlantic Integration and Minister of Justice, expects the two clusters to open in the first half of 2025.
Katarína Mathernová, the EU Ambassador to Ukraine, believes that Ukraine has a chance to begin accession negotiations in several clusters by 2025, although the pace of these developments will become clearer in due course. Mathernová also reiterated her belief that Ukraine's accession to the EU by 2030 is realistic.