The European Commission May Open the First Cluster of Ukraine's EU Accession Negotiations on June 16
On June 16, the European Commission plans to present a proposal to open the first "cluster" of negotiation chapters within the process of Ukraine's and Moldova's accession to the European Union. This was reported by Euractiv citing a senior EU official.
According to the publication, the European Commission will present the relevant proposal during the meeting of European affairs ministers in Brussels as part of the EU General Affairs Council.
This schedule will allow the leaders of the European Union countries to approve this decision just two days later — at the European Council meeting.
As Euractiv notes, Ukraine's progress on the path to EU accession was previously mainly hindered by Hungary's position. Former Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban blocked steps toward bringing Ukraine closer to the EU membership for a long time. However, after the parliamentary elections in March, the government in Hungary changed. The new Prime Minister Peter Magyar, although not supporting Ukraine's EU accession, demonstrates a more restrained approach.
It is expected that during his visit to Brussels, he will raise the issue of unblocking European funds frozen due to violations of the EU legislation during Orban's government.
At the same time, the final conditions of Ukraine's and Moldova's future EU membership have not yet been determined.
German Chancellor Friedrich Merz suggested that Ukraine could receive an "associated membership" format without full voting rights in the EU. However, this idea was rejected in Kyiv.
Also, Norwegian Foreign Minister Espen Barth Eide dismissed assumptions about Ukraine's possible accession to the European Economic Area as an intermediate stage before full EU membership.
EU accession negotiations are divided into six thematic "clusters" that group separate chapters of EU legislation. Opening each of them requires unanimous support from all 27 EU member states.
The first cluster concerns the fundamental democratic, economic, and institutional principles of the European Union. It is opened first and closed last.
According to Euractiv, the opening of other clusters for Ukraine and Moldova is expected already in July.
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