On Tuesday, Ukraine opened the second of a total of six negotiation areas on the road to EU membership.
Ukraine takes Tuesday another step on the road to EU membership.
At the third intergovernmental conference in Brussels, Ukraine opened another area in the negotiations on EU membership.
Thus, Ukraine has now opened two out of a total of six negotiation areas.
This is according to Ireland’s minister responsible for European affairs, Thomas Byrne.
– It shows the EU’s willingness to admit Ukraine into the EU, and it shows Ukraine’s willingness to follow the path to the EU, says Thomas Byrne.
The opening of the negotiation areas is not chronological. That is why it was the sixth area of negotiation, dealing with foreign policy and defence, that was opened on Tuesday.
Moldova will also have the sixth negotiating area opened at a separate intergovernmental conference on Tuesday, says EU Commissioner for Enlargement, Marta Kos.
– Ukraine and Moldova will have the sixth negotiation area opened, which deals with foreign relations and defense cooperation.
– Both countries will be able to contribute to Europe’s security structure, says Marta Kos.
However, Ukraine had hoped to open all six negotiation areas, because the EU Commission has previously assessed that the country has carried out enough reforms for this to happen.
Marta Kos states at the press conference that the last four negotiation areas should be opened “as soon as possible”.
– Ukraine is ready. The country has met all the requirements, says Marta Kos.
Ukraine’s Deputy Prime Minister, Taras Kachka, calls Tuesday’s decision “good news” for Ukraine. Because, according to Kachka, it shows that there is nothing immediately preventing the remaining areas from being opened.
– We are standing here in mid-July and opening a negotiation area. It shows that progress can happen at any time.
– And no one is blocking the opening of negotiation areas anymore, says Taras Kachka.
With Viktor Orbán as prime minister, Hungary stood for a long time in the way of Ukraine being able to open the first negotiation area.
After Orbán lost the Hungarian parliamentary election in April, the new prime minister, Péter Magyar, has taken a more positive line towards Ukraine.
However, it is still Hungary that is holding back and does not want to open all areas of negotiation at once.
However, Magyar has not indicated that he will completely stop the opening of new areas, and this is crucial for Ukraine.
– The most important thing for us is that there are no visible decisions to postpone or think about it until later.
– Now we are relying on Ireland’s initiative as the country holding the EU presidency in relation to opening up the next areas of negotiation. I know that the work has not been put on hold, says Taras Kachka.
On Tuesday, the EU will also hold intergovernmental conferences with Montenegro and Albania.
According to Marta Kos, the two countries will get the green light to be able to finish some of the 35 chapters that are included in the six areas of negotiation.
This emphasizes that the two countries are now seriously on the way to becoming members of the EU.
– Montenegro is the country that is furthest ahead. Montenegro will have two more chapters closed today, so that the country has completed 18 chapters in total.
– Thus, Montenegro has closed more than half of the chapters, says Marta Kos.
Montenegro’s aim is to close the remaining chapters this year, so that the final approval of the application for membership can be finalized by the EU countries and the EU Parliament in 2027.
If successful, Montenegro will be able to become the EU’s 28th member state in 2028.
RITZAU
