The European Commission will propose opening the first ‘cluster’ of negotiating chapters on Ukraine and Moldova’s EU membership on 16 June, a senior official has told Euractiv.
The Commission will table the proposal at a meeting of European ministers in Brussels in the General Affairs Council.
The timetable would allow EU leaders to approve the move at the European Council in Brussels two days later.
So far, Ukraine’s accession progress has been stalled, primarily by Hungary.
Viktor Orbán, the former prime minister, consistently blocked efforts to advance Ukraine’s EU bid. But after 16 years in power, he was ousted in March’s Hungarian parliamentary election.
While not endorsing Ukrainian EU membership, the new Hungarian government has signaled a more measured approach.
Péter Magyar, Hungary’s new prime minister, is expected in Brussels later this week and will link his support to his demands for the unlocking of European funds frozen due to breaches of EU law under Orbán’s government.
In April, the EU’s Enlargement Commissioner Marta Kos said she expected talks on Ukraine’s first negotiating ‘cluster’ to begin once Hungary’s government transition is complete, potentially during Cyprus’s EU presidency, which runs until the end of June.
The precise terms of EU membership for Ukraine and Moldova are up for grabs.
Last week, Friedrich Merz, Germany’s chancellor, suggested that Ukraine could join the EU as an “associate member” without full voting rights. The idea was rejected by Kyiv a few days later.
On Tuesday, Norway’s minister of foreign affairs Espen Barth Eide dismissed suggestions that Ukraine could join the European Economic Area as a stepping stone to full EU membership. The EEA extends the EU single market to non-EU members Norway, Iceland, and Liechtenstein.
“It’s a very peculiar arrangement,” Eide said. “It has its upsides and its challenges – I’m not sure if I would suggest that they should do that.”
A process to rule them all
While there is a debate over the terms of membership, the process to joining is clear.
EU accession talks are divided into six different so-called ‘clusters’, grouping areas or ‘chapters’ of EU law into broad thematic policy areas.
The opening of each cluster requires unanimous approval from all 27 EU member states, and vetoes can also halt progress in negotiations if candidate countries are considered to be backsliding on reforms.
The first such “cluster” in talks concerns the EU’s essential democratic, economic, and institutional pillars. While it is the first to open, it is also the last to close.
The remaining clusters are expected to be opened for Ukraine and Moldova in July.
See the original of this report by Magnus Lund Nielsen here.