The EU has opened the first negotiating cluster for Ukraine. Five remain

The European Union has opened the first negotiation cluster for Ukraine and Moldova. This decision was supported by all EU member states.

This was reported by the European Commission.

The "Fundamentals" cluster concerns the judiciary, rights, freedoms, financial control, democratic institutions, and public administration reform. It is always opened first and closed last in accession negotiations.

There are six clusters in total. Earlier, EU Commissioner for Enlargement Marta Cos said that the EU hopes to open all of them in July.

And in Hungary, they stated that the process of Ukraineʼs European integration may be suspended if Kyiv does not fulfill the agreement on the rights of Hungarians in Transcarpathia.

The Minister of Foreign Affairs Anita Orbán stated that as part of the opening of the first cluster, the parties concluded a bilateral agreement that enshrines the rights of the Hungarian minority in Transcarpathia, primarily in the areas of education, public administration, the use of national symbols and culture.

What are Ukraineʼs successes on its path to the EU?

Ukraine intensified cooperation with the EU in 2014, after the victory of the Revolution of Dignity. In the same year, the Verkhovna Rada and the European Parliament simultaneously approved the Association Agreement between Ukraine and the EU. It entered into full force on September 1, 2017. Ukraineʼs path to membership in the European Union and NATO was enshrined in the Constitution in February 2019.

On February 28, 2022, Ukraine applied for membership in the European Union. On June 17, the European Commission recommended granting Ukraine candidate status for EU membership and set out a number of conditions that the country must meet before starting negotiations on EU membership. On June 23, EU leaders gathered in Brussels for a summit, where they granted Ukraine candidate status.

At the end of 2023, the European Union allowed negotiations to begin. They were formally launched in 2024, but the process slowed down, in particular due to the position of then-Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban, who blocked the opening of negotiation clusters.

After the government changed in Hungary, the country lifted its 17-month veto on Ukraineʼs accession to the EU in June 2026.

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