European Commission submits first screening report to European Council as part of Ukraine's accession negotiations

The European Commission has submitted a screening report on the Fundamentals cluster to the European Council, marking the starting point for Ukraine's EU membership negotiations.

As reported by Interfax-Ukraine, the first report on the screening of Ukraine's legislation (an analysis of the extent to which the candidate country's laws align with EU legislation) was sent to the European Council on 16 January.

The report focuses on Cluster 1, Fundamentals, which serves as the foundation for membership negotiations. In accordance with the negotiating framework, this cluster is the first to open and the last to close during the negotiation process.

"Once the Council agrees that the initial benchmarks for this cluster have been met, the countries have presented their negotiation positions and the EU has approved its position, an Intergovernmental Conference is organised. At this conference, both parties officially open the cluster for negotiations," the European Commission stated.

Earlier, EU Commissioner for Enlargement Marta Kos said she was confident that Ukraine could open both the first and thirty-first clusters in its EU membership negotiations by 2025.

In December, President Volodymyr Zelenskyy stated that Ukraine aims to open at least two clusters by 2025, with the maximum goal being all the clusters.

Olha Stefanishyna, Ukraine’s Deputy Prime Minister for European Integration, noted that Ukraine, together with Poland and Denmark, which will hold the EU Council presidency during 2025, has drawn up a plan for opening the chapters in Ukraine’s EU membership negotiations.