Zelensky could celebrate fresh EU accession breakthrough in Brussels next week, source says

President Volodymyr Zelensky will attend a summit of the EU's 27 national leaders on Oct. 15 if Kyiv is able to unlock the next step in its EU accession process before then, a Ukrainian official confirmed to the Kyiv Independent.

The Ukrainian parliament is expected to pass a law on Oct. 12 that will bolster the rights of Ukraine's Hungarian-speaking minority, which Hungary has required of Kyiv in order for it to drop its veto on advancing Ukraine's EU accession process.

If that happens, and the EU therefore unlocks the next two so-called enlargement clusters, then Zelensky will attend the European Council summit, a Ukrainian official familiar with the president's agenda told the Kyiv Independent.

Ukraine has opened two of six enlargement clusters so far, listing the reforms that Kyiv must implement to be fully aligned with EU rules and thus able to join the bloc.

The first two clusters opened in June and July, respectively, but further progress has been held back after months of Ukraine failing to pass the ethnic minorities reform, despite agreeing with Budapest in July to do so.

"It is possible that we would open the next two clusters ... next week," the EU's Enlargement Commissioner Marta Kos said at an Oct. 5 press conference in Brussels.

"Of course, the member states will have to speed up the procedure," Kos said.

The steps taken between the passage of the law and the holding of an intergovernmental conference (IGC), which marks the opening of an enlargement cluster, are essentially just formalities, but they take some time.

Normally, IGCs are held on the margins of a meeting of European ministers called the General Affairs Council. The next one of those is scheduled to take place in Luxembourg on Oct. 13.

However, that would mean the bloc has to carry out the formalities overnight, so it could be that the IGCs instead take place on Oct. 14, one day before EU leaders are set to meet.

If all goes smoothly, Ukraine is expected to open clusters two and three, broad areas of economic reform.

That would leave still to open clusters four and five, which cover more sectoral areas of the economy where some countries still have reservations, for example, due to the size and competitiveness of Ukraine's agricultural and transport sectors.

But Kos remained hopeful that all six clusters would be unlocked by the end of the year.

If Zelensky attends the Oct. 15 European Council, he will have several topics to weigh in on.

The Summit is expected to discuss the future of EU enlargement, with a key set of proposals to be published on Oct. 6, as well as Ukraine's war effort, and wider European defense and security.

It will also touch on negotiations over the EU's 2028-2034 budget, which includes a separate line for Ukraine support, currently set at 89 billion euros ($100 billion).