The EU Council’s Working Party on Enlargement and Countries Negotiating Accession to the EU (COELA) will reconsider the assessment of screening results for clusters 2-6 for Ukraine, which was slowed down by Hungary on Tuesday, European Pravda reports, citing anonymous sources familiar with the situation.
According to the publication, if a positive decision is reached, the working group will propose that the EU send a letter to Ukraine inviting it to submit its negotiating position for each of the clusters in order to begin discussions on opening them.
"The EU Council’s working group on EU enlargement, after assessing the screening results, must decide that Ukraine is sufficiently prepared for negotiations," one source said.
The source added that at the COELA meeting in Brussels on Tuesday, June 23, Hungary did not agree to approve the screening results, explaining that its experts needed more time for evaluation. Similarly, the screening results for clusters 2-6 for Moldova were not approved.
The source added that "Hungary’s decision should not yet be seen as a block, but rather as technical reservations."
"If Hungary lifts its scrutiny reserve, the Cypriot presidency has stated it is ready to include this issue on the agenda of COREPER (Committee of Permanent Representatives) as early as this Friday," one diplomat said.
COREPER is scheduled to meet on Friday morning, June 26. The Committee of Permanent Representatives of the EU is expected to decide, without discussion, to send Ukraine (and respectively Moldova) a letter inviting them to submit their negotiating positions with a view to opening clusters 2-6.
Following this, EU ambassadors will begin discussions on the European Union’s common positions for each cluster. Once approved, the cluster can be opened at a corresponding Intergovernmental Conference.
