European Commission says two chapters of negotiations on Ukraine's EU accession could be opened in 2025

Marta Kos, European Commissioner for Enlargement, believes that the first and thirty-first chapters in the negotiations on Ukraine's EU membership could be opened in 2025.

As reported by Interfax-Ukraine, Kos noted on Tuesday in Brussels at a meeting of the European Parliament's Foreign Affairs Committee that when she spoke with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, he asked to open all chapters of the negotiation process this year, saying that "we want it and we will do it".

"When I heard this the second time, I said that it's not just about opening them, but mostly about closing. Ukraine is doing well with reforms, but they need to be sustainable reforms. We support them.

Therefore, speaking about what can be done with them [Ukraine – ed.], it’s possible that this year we will open the first cluster of pillars and even the thirty-first, which is about foreign policy. That is, if they do what they promised and if we have a successful procedure in the [European] Council," Kos said.

Kos explained that by "successful procedure in the Council" she means the member states’ unanimous support for each decision required in the negotiation process.

"The Council must adopt these decisions unanimously. For example, today we need three unanimous decisions for just Ukraine and Moldova alone.

This week, we will submit a screening report to the Council. This is the first unanimous decision. Then, we have to submit the controls. We need a unanimous decision again, and then we need the opinion of the commission – which also has to be unanimous," she said.

Kos stressed that the accession process is not only a matter of her work or the work of the European Commission, it is also largely the member states’ choices and decisions.

On 17 December, Zelenskyy said that Ukraine aims to open at least two chapters in the EU accession negotiations in 2025, with the maximum goal being all clusters.

The president noted that this requires the active work of the Verkhovna Rada (Ukrainian parliament) "without pre-election discussions".

Olha Stefanishyna, Ukrainian Deputy Prime Minister for European Integration, said that Ukraine, Poland and Denmark had drawn up a plan to open accession negotiations.