EU again fails to make decision on opening negotiating clusters with Ukraine
While European Union leaders acknowledged Ukraine’s fulfillment of the conditions for opening EU accession negotiations, they did not take the appropriate action due to Hungary’s position.
This is said in the statement of conclusions, which was agreed upon by 26 EU member states, excluding Hungary, following the consideration of the Ukrainian issue at the European Council meeting in Brussels on Thursday.
“The European Council reaffirms the EU’s steadfast support for Ukraine’s path towards EU membership, and welcomes the significant progress Ukraine has achieved so far under the most challenging circumstances,” the document says.
In this regard, the European Council called on Ukraine, the Council and the Commission to continue working on the accession process in line with the merit-based approach.
“The fundamentals cluster will be opened first and closed last, with clusters being opened when the conditions are met, in accordance with the enlargement methodology. The European Council takes good note of the Commission’s assessment that the fundamentals, internal market and external relations clusters are ready to be opened,” the statement notes.
The European Council will return to this issue at its next meeting.