Polish EU Presidency hopes that the first negotiation cluster on Ukraine's accession to EU will be opened in the second half of 2025
Polish Minister for European Union Affairs Adam Szłapka hopes that the European Union will be able to open the first cluster in negotiations on Ukraine's accession to the EU during the Danish presidency, which will begin on July 1 and will last until December 31, 2025.
He said this on Monday in Warsaw during a meeting with journalists as part of a press tour with Brussels organized by the Polish presidency of the EU, which lasts from January 1 to June 30 this year.
Answering a question from the Interfax-Ukraine agency about the possibility of Hungary unblocking this process, the minister stressed that he is "always quite optimistic."
"We worked very hard to prepare for this. And I think that from the point of view of the first cluster, we are ready. Ukraine is ready, Moldova is ready. And now we are working together mostly with our Hungarian colleagues. Our Ukrainian partners are working together with them... And when we talk about realism (regarding the decision to open the first cluster - IF-U), I would say that it will probably be the Danish presidency," Szłapka said.
The minister recalled that in order to make a decision to open negotiations on "any cluster with any country, unanimity (of the EU member states) is needed three times." "This is a political decision. And we are trying to convince all our partners in the enlargement process that this process should be based on merit. And I have no doubt that Ukraine is ready to open the first cluster," - he stated.
Szłapka noted that, as the Polish presidency, it tried to do this.
"Our common goal is to work with the enlargement process and move this process forward. So there are things that need to be done to be ready when something changes in the political situation, for example, in Hungary's decision. Therefore, our task is, and what we must do now, to be ready for this window of opportunity. And we are doing it," the minister explained.