Hopes held by Ukraine and its supporters within the EU, including among member states, for the swift opening of negotiating clusters have not been confirmed by the EU summit's decision.
Source: documents available to European Pravda and its sources in Brussels
Details: Despite Ukraine's expectations (which still remain unchanged) that the EU would be able to open the remaining five accession negotiating clusters in July, this position could not be secured in the decision of the EU summit taking place in Brussels.
The summit's adopted conclusions on Ukraine mention the need to open further clusters, but in an extremely conservative format. "The European Council welcomes… the opening on 15 June 2026 of the Fundamentals cluster and looks forward to the opening of further clusters following a merit-based approach," the decision states.
The wording contains neither a mention of the need to open all the clusters nor any timeframe. The reference to a "merit-based approach" could be used to delay the opening of the remaining clusters – in particular, pending the implementation of certain reforms by Ukraine.
A European Commission source says the question of opening all clusters was raised at the European Council meeting by President Zelenskyy and "several state leaders", but there was a clear lack of votes. "Unanimity is required, and it was not there," the source explained, stressing that there was effectively no discussion on the matter due to the absence of any prospect of a decision being adopted in the form Kyiv would have wanted.
Background:
Hungarian Prime Minister Péter Magyar earlier boasted that he had "struck out" swift accession from the EU summit decision.
Before that, he had said that Hungary had questions about opening the remaining clusters with Ukraine. However, the circle of opponents of this scenario turned out to be significantly wider.
Support Ukrainska Pravda on Patreon!
