During the current year, there is a chance that official Brussels will open two clusters with Ukraine in negotiations on membership in the European Union.
Points of attention
- Ukraine has a chance to get significantly closer to EU membership.
- The accession process involves important conditions, including a unanimous vote for decisions in the Council by member states.
- Reforms in Ukraine must be sustainable.
2025 will be a busy year for Ukraine
European Commissioner for Enlargement Marta Kos made a statement on this occasion.
As the politician notes, when she spoke with Ukrainian leader Volodymyr Zelensky, he called for all chapters of the negotiation process to be opened this year.
When I heard it the second time, I said that it is not only about opening, but mainly about closing. Ukraine is implementing reforms well, but they must be sustainable reforms. We support them. Therefore, talking about what can be done with them (Ukraine — ed.), it will be possible that this year we will open the first cluster of foundations and even the thirty-first — and this is foreign policy.
Martha Kos
European Commissioner for Enlargement
According to her, a successful procedure in the Council will be an extremely important factor.
What is it really about?
Marta Kos points out that by "successful procedure in the Council" she means a unanimous vote by member states for each decision necessary during the negotiation process.
These unanimous decisions must be adopted in the Council. For example, for Ukraine and Moldova alone, from today we need three unanimous decisions,” the European Commissioner emphasized.
Marta Kos also noted that official Brussels will soon submit a screening report to the Council — this is the first unanimous decision.
Benchmarks will need to be adopted later.
"We need a unanimous decision again, and then we need the opinion of the commission — and again — a unanimous decision," she said.
Marta Kos once again reminded that the accession process is not only a matter of her work or the work of the European Commission, it is also largely something that the member states will do.
