"The first negotiation cluster within Ukraine’s EU accession process could be officially opened by June 30, 2026, while Cyprus holds the presidency of the Council of the EU. The other five clusters are planned to be launched in July," European Commissioner for Enlargement Marta Kos ahead of a meeting of the EU Foreign Affairs Council in Brussels, mezha.net reports.
She emphasized that she supports launching negotiations across all areas as quickly as possible.
"The first cluster could be opened during Cyprus’s presidency, and we hope to open the remaining five clusters in July," Marta Kos said.
Cyprus is currently serving as the presiding country of the Council of the EU until the end of June 2026. After that, the presidency will pass to Ireland, which will lead the Council for the following six months.
Preparations for the negotiations are already underway. In March, Ukraine received from the European Commission a list of required criteria for work on all six clusters. This comes amid Hungary blocking the formal opening of the negotiation process.
The EU accession procedure covers 35 chapters, 33 of which are grouped into six thematic clusters. They are opened gradually. The first to be launched is the “Fundamentals of the EU accession process” cluster, which is closed last.
This key block includes issues related to the functioning of the judicial system, protection of fundamental rights, justice and security, economic criteria, the operation of democratic institutions, public administration reform, public procurement, statistics, and financial control. Chapters 34 “Institutions” and 35 “Other issues” are considered separately.
The European Union has already provided Ukraine with official requirements for three clusters and has begun assessing their implementation. The strictest criteria are concentrated in the “Fundamentals of EU accession” cluster, which includes issues of the rule of law, anti-corruption, and human rights protection.
These requirements must be fully met by the time membership is achieved.
At the same time, Deputy Prime Minister for European Integration Taras Kachka previously noted that Ukraine is capable of meeting the necessary conditions by the end of 2026. In that case, signing the accession agreement could be possible in 2027, after which the document must be ratified by all 27 EU member states.
Thus, negotiations between Ukraine and the European Union are moving into a practical phase, although the process continues to be accompanied by political challenges.
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