The European Union aims to speed up Ukraine’s membership in the bloc by opening two negotiating “clusters” during the first half of this year, a senior official said Tuesday.
Ukraine and Moldova have started the process of joining the 27-member bloc in what would be its biggest expansion push in more than two decades.
The pledge to speed up Ukraine’s membership comes as Kyiv seeks to reinforce its position ahead of expected peace talks with Russia. Becoming a member of the EU would be a major achievement for Kyiv, which also aspires to join NATO.
“It’s necessary for the EU to develop further and have new member states,” said top EU diplomat Kaja Kallas, who was also present at the conference along with Swedish Europe Minister Jessica Rosencrantz and Ukrainian Deputy Prime Minister Olha Stefanishyna. “We need also to increase the pressure on Russia to stop this war,” added Kallas.
Despite having received the legal green light to start negotiating with Brussels, Kyiv hasn’t yet opened the first cluster of negotiations. The whole process involves six clusters, which are subdivided into a total of 35 chapters.
“From the technical point of view we can be ready to open two clusters for Ukraine in the first half of the year,” European Commissioner for Enlargement Marta Kos told journalists during a news conference in Brussels.
Kos was quick to point out that further progress was contingent on agreement from EU member countries which have to sign off on each step forward. Hungary in particular has been opposed to membership for Ukraine. “It’s not possible without the member states,” she said.
Source: Politico
