Ukraine admits possibility of closing cluster in negotiations with EU in 2026
Ukraine hopes that the European Union will open all six negotiation clusters regarding Ukraine’s accession this year and admits the possibility, in such a case, of closing at least one of them by the end of the year, Deputy Prime Minister for European and Euro-Atlantic Integration of Ukraine Taras Kachka said.
"We are at a culminating moment in the accession negotiations, so I hope that you will open the clusters this year, and maybe, who knows, we will even close at least one of them by the end of this year," he said at the Ukraine-EU business summit in Brussels on Wednesday, an Interfax-Ukraine correspondent reported.
If this is the case, Ukraine will definitely be on a good path to full accession, Kachka noted.
He emphasized that joining the European Union is the number one priority for Ukraine.
According to him, many different models of such accession are currently being discussed, but it is important that the member states have shared with Ukraine all the criteria necessary for negotiations on all six clusters – all 34 chapters and 145 criteria, while Ukraine, in turn, has adopted a National Program with approximately 1,800 measures for their implementation.
