Ukraine pushes EU to open all six accession clusters in June

Ukraine is urging Brussels to open all six negotiation clusters for its EU accession already in June, ahead of the previously indicated July timeline, warning that the country is already falling behind its planned accession schedule.

This was stated by Ukraine’s Deputy Prime Minister for European and Euro-Atlantic Integration Taras Kachka in an interview with Euronews, according to Ukrinform.

“We believe that all six clusters can be open already in June,” Kachka said.

According to Euronews, the Ukrainian official’s call came after European Commissioner for Enlargement Marta Kos confirmed that the first negotiation cluster could be opened in June during Cyprus’s EU presidency, with the remaining five expected in July under Ireland’s presidency.

The negotiation clusters cover key reform areas required for EU alignment, ranging from the rule of law to judicial reform. Each set of criteria must be fulfilled by candidate countries, and final approval requires unanimous agreement from all 27 EU member states.

Although Ukraine is technically ready to begin the process, progress has been stalled by Hungary’s veto policy under former Prime Minister Viktor Orbán.

Kachka pointed out that Hungary’s Foreign Minister Anita Orban already said that Budapest “will not block anything”.

He added that three negotiation clusters were ready to be opened a year ago, before Hungary formally began blocking the process.

Kachka also added that there is “a certain prejudice” toward Ukraine regarding the timing and circumstances of the country's start of its EU accession process.

“For Ukraine it started like 15 years ago, or even earlier, when we negotiated the association agreement already for many, many years," he said. "All the benchmarks that are already defined by the European Union are easily implemented in the forthcoming 12, eight months,” the Deputy Prime Minister said.

Read also: Czech president backs Ukraine’s swift EU accession after completion of all procedures

As previously reported by Ukrinform, European Commissioner for Enlargement Marta Kos said the first cluster in Ukraine’s EU accession talks could be opened by the end of June, with the remaining clusters in July.