Poland and France oppose opening five of Ukraine’s negotiating clusters with the EU before the end of June

Ukraine is seeking to open all six negotiating clusters on EU accession before the end of June, but two countries — Poland and France — are proposing to postpone the opening of five of them, tentatively until autumn.

This is reported by Radio Free Europe with reference to sources in EU diplomatic circles.

Kyiv is seeking to complete the opening of all clusters before the end of Cyprus’s presidency of the Council of the European Union. According to the publication’s sources, the EU broadly supports opening the first, foundational cluster “Fundamentals” before the end of June. That is the agreement reached among member states. However, Poland and France are insisting on pushing back the deadlines for the remaining five clusters.

Previously, Hungary had been blocking the negotiation process on Ukraine’s EU accession. In April, parliamentary elections were held in the country, which the party of Prime Minister Viktor Orbán lost. The new Prime Minister, Péter Magyar, changed Hungary’s position on the matter, but considers accelerated Ukrainian accession unrealistic.

On May 11, EU Commissioner for Enlargement Marta Kos stated that the European Union could open the first negotiating cluster for Ukraine before the end of June, and the next ones as early as July.

EU High Representative Kaja Kallas noted Ukraine’s progress in implementing reforms and expressed her expectation that all six negotiating clusters would be opened “by summer.”