Next step for Ukraine's EU membership talks unlocks July 14
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Editor's note: The story has been updated with the latest details.
Ukraine and Moldova will take the next step in their EU accession process on July 14 after ambassadors from the bloc's 27 countries agreed on July 10 to formally open negotiations over another of the six to-do lists.
Kyiv and Chisinau unlocked the first of the six so-called enlargement clusters on June 15, called "fundamentals," which covers topics such as the rule of law and democratic functioning. The next cluster to open concerns the alignment of the two countries' foreign policy with EU norms.
Taras Kachka, Ukraine's deputy prime minister for European and Euro-Atlantic integration, thanked European partners "for moving forward the agenda of the enlargement process."
"Cluster 6 is particularly (important) in today's global security environment. Joint security and defense policy, trade, humanitarian assistance, and development (cooperation are) bringing Ukraine closer to the EU's Common Foreign and Security Policy."
The European Commission has said that Ukraine and Moldova have both been ready to open all six clusters for months, but individual EU countries, principally Hungary, have held back progress, as the process always requires unanimity to proceed.
Peter Magyar, head of Hungary's new government, has consistently opposed fast-tracking Kyiv's EU accession process, pushing back against any apparent preferential treatment toward Ukraine.
However, other countries could revive their own concerns over the remaining four clusters, particularly as they handle economic alignment, and several capitals fear Ukrainian competition.
Chief among those is Poland, whose agricultural and trucking sectors are especially sensitive to competition from Ukrainian companies and have a powerful voice in national politics.
Warsaw is also among those who pushed for stricter quotas on Ukrainian steel imports, and Polish President Karol Nawrocki has been locked in a feud with President Volodymyr Zelensky for several weeks over historical grievances.
Still, the progress on the external relations cluster, mere days into Ireland's six-month presidency of the EU Council, offers hope that Dublin is serious in its pledge to prioritize enlargement, and that further clusters could open after Brussels' summer recess.
