By the end of the year, the EU aims to open all clusters of accession negotiations with Ukraine.
This was stated by Ireland’s prime minister, Micheál Martin, whose country holds the presidency of the EU Council, in an interview with Yevropeyska Pravda.
“By the end of the year, we aim to open all clusters of accession negotiations with Ukraine. That is our goal. Last week we opened Cluster 6, and before that the Cypriot presidency opened the first cluster. The next immediate goal is to open Clusters 2 and 3 simultaneously, and to do so as quickly as possible. Then, by the end of the year, to open the remaining clusters (that is, 4 and 5). Of course, we will still have to work with other states to convince them. But we have set ourselves this goal,” Martin said.
He noted that Moldova is “tied” to Ukraine. Last week, the bloc closed several chapters for Albania. As for other candidates, Montenegro is close to accession, and the EU wants to close all chapters with it this year.
The head of the Irish government noted that Ukraine “needs further reforms in the areas of the rule of law, the fight against corruption, and so on.” It is also necessary to convince other EU member states of the importance of Ukraine joining the bloc.
Earlier, the EU ambassador to Ukraine, Katarína Mathernová, said that in the European Commission’s view, Ukraine is ready to open all six negotiating clusters. However, Hungary once again blocked a decision on Clusters 2 and 3 of the EU accession talks for Ukraine and Moldova. A new attempt to approve the screening results is scheduled for 1 September.