EU regrets it cannot open negotiation clusters with Ukraine without Hungary's consent
Polish Minister for European Affairs Adam Szłapka said on 18 March in Brussels that the European Commission and Poland, which holds the EU presidency in the first half of 2025, are ready to open negotiating clusters with Ukraine, in particular the first cluster, Fundamentals. However, this process requires unanimous support from all 27 EU states and is unfortunately being blocked by Hungary.
"You know the political situation in terms of bilateral relations between Ukraine and Hungary. We, as I always say, we are determined as a Polish presidency to move forward the enlargement process. This is one of our priorities during Polish presidency," Adam Szłapka said, answering the questions of a European Pravda correspondent.
At the same time, the European Commission confirmed that the EU is currently unable to open the first cluster in the negotiations on Ukraine's accession to the EU due to Hungary's blocking of the process.
Szłapka said that the European Commission is also "very determined" to conduct a screening process of Ukrainian legislation.
"So we are ready to work on that, but we need unanimity, unfortunately," the Polish minister stated.
"We hope that this (opening of clusters in negotiations with Ukraine) will be a merit-based process and that it will be based on arguments and not on political issues," Adam Szłapka expressed hope.
"Enlargement will remain a priority for this commission. When it comes to Ukraine, we opened the accession in June 2024. It was a recognition of Ukraine's determination to advance on its EU path and to implement transformative reforms despite Russia's ongoing war of regression. Until now, Ukraine has been making steady progress towards EU accession," European Commission spokesman Guillaume Mercier said at a briefing on 18 March.
He clarified that Ukraine is currently "undergoing the bilateral screening reports, which will continue until the fall this year".
"And subject to meeting all the required conditions, the Сommission looks forward to opening the first cluster, the one on the fundamentals, as soon as possible in 2025. But for this, obviously, we need all the member states to agree," the spokesperson said.
"In this case, unanimity is the obstacle. We need all the member states to agree. The commission has given its assessment, and we believe that we can open the first cluster. So we need now the agreement from all the member states," Guillaume Mercier concluded.
This year, the European Commission announced ambitious plans to open three clusters of negotiations between Ukraine and the EU before the end of the Polish presidency in June 2025.
However, in mid-February, it became known that Hungary had blocked the opening of the first negotiation cluster and demanded to expand the list of requirements for Ukraine.
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