Marta Kos called on European Union member states to open all negotiation clusters for the accession of the Republic of Moldova and Ukraine by July. According to Euronews, the EU official said Brussels sees “a window of opportunity” to accelerate the enlargement process.
“I will urge all member states to officially open all clusters. We have done a great deal of preparatory work, so everything is ready for this step,” Kos said on Monday in Brussels.
The European Commissioner explained that officials could open the first negotiation cluster as early as June during Cyprus’s rotating presidency of the Council of the EU. She added that officials could open the remaining five clusters in July, when Ireland takes over the presidency.
Officials define negotiation clusters as broad reform areas such as the rule of law, justice, the economy, and public administration. Candidate countries must meet all conditions, and the EU’s 27 member states must take the final decision unanimously.
According to the European Commission, Ukraine stands technically ready to begin negotiations, but officials have blocked the process so far due to the veto policy of the government led by Viktor Orbán. Brussels now expects a more constructive approach from the new Hungarian Prime Minister Péter Magyar.
Euronews reports that Marta Kos’s timeline for opening the first cluster coincides with the first European summit attended by Péter Magyar as Hungary’s prime minister, scheduled for mid-June.