The EU explained how Ukraine can join the European Union despite having occupied territories

The occupation of part of the territories will not prevent Ukraine from joining the European Union, since the bloc can apply the mechanism of transitional periods.

This was stated by the European Parliament rapporteur on Ukraine, Michael Haller, in an interview with European Truth.

He explained that when Ukraine joins the EU, the transition period will apply only to the controlled part of the country. And later, when other territories are liberated, the "countdown" of these transition periods will begin for them.

According to Haler, such an approach will avoid slowing down the accession process and prevent attempts to use the temporarily occupied territories as an argument against Ukraineʼs European integration — both from Russia and from skeptics in Europe.

At the same time, he emphasized that the final decision on Ukraineʼs accession to the EU requires unanimity of all member states, so political changes in the blocʼs countries may affect the pace of the process.

"But what is absolutely clear to me is that when the situation is stable, Ukraineʼs accession to the EU will be possible, regardless of whether you control all of your territory or not," Galer emphasized.

• Ukraine and Moldova are moving synchronously along the path of European integration: both countries have completed the screening of legislation and are moving to the next stages of negotiations in parallel. At the same time, Kos noted that the EU is considering the option of separating Moldova from Ukraine in the accession process, due to Hungaryʼs blocking.
• In April 2025, the government of Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán called on Hungarians to vote against Ukraineʼs membership in the EU in a national poll. The results of this vote were released on June 26 — the Hungarian authorities claim that 95% of Hungarians are against Ukraineʼs accession to the EU.
• Denmark has called for increased pressure on Hungary for violating the fundamental principles of the European Union. Minister for European Affairs Marie Bjerre said that Copenhagen will seek to activate the procedure under Article 7 of the EU Treaty — also known as the "nuclear option" because it allows for limiting the rights of a member state, including depriving it of its vote in the EU Council.
• On September 30, Ukraine and the EU completed the screening of Ukrainian legislation for negotiations on accession to the European Union.

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