Ukraine plans to open all EU negotiating clusters in 2025: Stefanishyna revealed timetable
Ukraine aims to open all clusters of negotiations with the EU in 2025 and the country's government has set a timeline for the process.
Olha Stefanishyna, Ukraine's Deputy Prime Minister for European and Euro-Atlantic Integration, stated at the conference entitled Ukraine's Accession to the EU: Shaping a Transformational Agenda, held in Kyiv, that during the first half of this year, under the Polish presidency, Ukraine aims to open negotiating clusters 1, 2 and 6, with plans to open the remaining three clusters under the Danish presidency in the latter half of 2025.
"We can open negotiations [on one cluster] in April and we'll be ready to open negotiations on two more clusters in June. And accordingly, we'll also open three clusters during the Danish presidency... That is, [we seek to open] all of them," Stefanishyna said.
Stefanishyna identified the Fundamentals cluster, which focuses on the rule of law, as the top priority.
"The Fundamentals cluster is actually central to us. It perfectly structures and unites the state around the key areas in which the country will move in terms of public administration, functioning of institutions and anti-corruption policy," she explained.
The second important cluster currently being discussed, Stefanishyna noted, concerns the domestic market.
"If the first cluster is the soul of our future membership, the internal market is its body; you can aspire to the EU with your soul, but you can’t reach it on your feet. That’s why the first and second clusters are crucial for us," she said.
Stefanishyna added that the Polish presidency has also proposed opening negotiations on foreign and security policy, which includes trade policy.
The conference is supported by the German development agency GIZ and the EU-funded Pravo-Justice project, with European Pravda as its media partner.
President Volodymyr Zelenskyy stated that Ukraine aims to open at least two clusters in the EU accession negotiations in 2025, with the maximum goal being all clusters.
EU accession negotiations are structured into 35 chapters, organised into six clusters.