The European Union formally launched accession negotiations with Ukraine and Moldova on Monday evening in Luxembourg, opening the first cluster of membership chapters in a ceremony that marked a significant step — though by no means the final one — on what is expected to be a long road to full membership. Ukraine's Deputy Prime Minister Taras Kachka attended the intergovernmental conference, calling for "faster and very comprehensive accession" and framing EU membership as essential to European unity in the face of sustained Russian aggression. EU foreign policy chief Kaja Kallas called the moment a "major milestone," while European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen described enlargement as "strategically" significant and unavoidable.
Monday's opening focused on the first cluster of negotiations, known as "Fundamentals," which covers five chapters including the rule of law, judiciary and fundamental rights, justice, freedom and security, public procurement, and financial control. These areas are considered foundational — and deliberately demanding — because they address democratic governance, anti-corruption measures, and institutional integrity, areas where both Ukraine and Moldova still face serious challenges. Under EU accession rules, all 35 chapters (grouped into six clusters) must be opened and closed through unanimous agreement among all 27 member states, making the process highly vulnerable to political obstruction.
The formal launch had been delayed by roughly two years, largely due to Hungary's veto under former Prime Minister Viktor Orbán, long regarded as Russia's closest ally within the bloc. The political landscape shifted dramatically after Orbán lost his parliamentary majority in April's elections. His successor, Péter Magyar, reached an agreement with Kyiv in early June to protect the rights of the approximately 100,000 ethnic Hungarians living in Ukraine, allowing Budapest to lift its veto. The unblocking followed shortly after Brussels agreed to release more than €16 billion in previously frozen EU funds for Hungary. Ukraine and Moldova hope to open all six clusters by July — an ambitious timetable that the EU's enlargement commissioner, Marta Kos, described as achievable given preparatory work done during the period of Hungarian obstruction.
Despite the momentum, significant obstacles remain. An active war means Ukraine operates under martial law, limiting its ability to implement some required democratic reforms. Concerns persist about corruption — including a 2025 incident in which President Zelenskyy reportedly attempted to shield a senior aide from anti-corruption investigators — as well as the suspension of elections and questions about the functioning of parliament. On the economic side, Ukraine's vast agricultural sector poses a structural problem: applying existing EU farm subsidies to one of the world's largest grain producers would drastically strain a budget in which agricultural support already accounts for roughly a third of total spending, a prospect that alarms farming nations such as France and Poland.
The question of how quickly — and in what form — Ukraine might integrate has sparked debate among EU leaders. German Chancellor Friedrich Merz has proposed an "associate membership" that would give Ukraine a seat at EU tables and representation in EU bodies without voting rights, as a way to provide a concrete political horizon while full accession remains years away. Ukraine's government has rejected the idea, insisting on nothing less than full membership, and the EU's enlargement commissioner echoed that position, saying there can be "no half-memberships." Analysts note that even with a ceasefire, full accession before the end of the decade would be extremely ambitious — a sobering parallel being Turkey, which began its own EU accession talks in 2005 and remains outside the bloc two decades later.