Marta Kos: Brussels is open to starting accession negotiations with the Republic of Moldova and Ukraine
Ukraine and Moldova will jointly open the first negotiation cluster for EU accession, despite Budapest’s objections to Ukraine’s accession to the bloc. The announcement was made by European Commissioner for Enlargement, Marta Kos, after a “productive conversation” with Ukraine’s Deputy Prime Minister for European and Euro-Atlantic Integration, Olha Stefanishina.
Brussels is open to starting “Cluster 1” of accession negotiations with both candidates, Kos said in a post on the X platform.
Previously, Marta Kos said that Brussels is considering the option of separating Moldova from Ukraine during the accession process. All because Hungary is blocking Kyivʼs efforts to join. The statement was criticized by Ukraine’s Deputy Prime Minister for European and Euro-Atlantic Integration, Olha Stefanishina, who said this week in Chisinau that Ukraine and the Republic of Moldova are going hand in hand and that the authorities in Kiev are negotiating to overcome the Hungarian veto.
During her first official visit to Chisinau, Stefanishina pointed that Ukraine is still negotiating with Hungary and hopes that, in the coming weeks, she will convince Budapest to drop its opposition to opening accession negotiations.
