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AzerNEWS Staff

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The European Union will formally launch the first substantive phase of accession negotiations with Ukraine and Moldova next week, after member states successfully bypassed a prolonged diplomatic impasse with Budapest, AzerNEWS reports.

Following intense negotiations, EU member states finalized a unified negotiating framework after Hungary officially dropped its veto. The breakthrough paves the way for concrete integration talks to begin, overcoming hurdles that have stalled the process for two years.

While formal accession talks with Ukraine and Moldova were ceremonially initiated in June 2024, opening the first structural "negotiating cluster" with Kyiv had been repeatedly blocked by Hungary. However, following a recent change of government in Budapest, the new Hungarian administration rescinded its veto, announcing that a satisfactory agreement had been reached regarding the protection and rights of the Hungarian minority population living in western Ukraine.

In a joint statement, European Council President António Costa and European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen confirmed that the inaugural Intergovernmental Conference will take place on June 15, 2026. This session will officially open the "Fundamentals" cluster, which forms the bedrock of the entire accession process.

"This cluster encompasses the core values and principles upon which the European Union is built—ranging from the rule of law to strong, resilient democratic institutions," the joint statement read. During this critical preliminary phase, both Ukraine and Moldova must demonstrate rigorous alignment with EU standards across their judicial systems, public administration infrastructure, and anti-corruption frameworks.

The complete EU ascension process is notoriously demanding, spanning six distinct thematic clusters broken down into 33 individual chapters.

Despite the diplomatic breakthrough, EU officials in Brussels continue to manage expectations, emphasizing that the accession roadmap is highly conditional, merit-based, and inherently protracted, with no guaranteed outcome. To underscore the complexity of the process, diplomats frequently point to Türkiye, whose formal EU membership negotiations began in 2005 but have since fallen into a state of de facto suspension.