EU prepares to open first negotiation cluster for Ukraine and Moldova on June 15
"Two separate intergovernmental conferences for Ukraine and Moldova will be held in Luxembourg on June 15," a source told the outlet.
The source clarified that active preparatory work in the relevant working groups, as well as at the level of EU member states' ambassadors in Brussels, will precede the conferences.
The European Union is expected to approve a common negotiating position on the first cluster for both Ukraine and Moldova as early as next week.
The cluster in question is "Fundamentals" — the first of six areas in the negotiation process, under which candidate countries must bring their legislation into line with EU norms and standards.
The outlet notes that the first cluster for Ukraine could be opened as early as June 15, following Hungary's agreement to lift its veto. According to the Financial Times, Budapest has signaled its readiness to begin formal accession talks with the European Union for both Ukraine and Moldova.
After that, both countries will be able to begin harmonizing their national legislation with EU law within the six negotiating clusters. Under the current plans, the first of them could officially open on June 15.
At the same time, Hungarian Prime Minister Magyar said he was ready to support Ukraine's further progress toward European Union membership in exchange for "an agreement on expanding linguistic, educational, cultural and political rights" for the Hungarian minority.
According to him, if Ukraine fulfills these conditions, he will facilitate the opening of the first negotiating cluster for Ukraine.
Background
As Rubryka reported, on September 30, 2025, Ukraine and the European Commission completed bilateral meetings as part of the official screening of Ukrainian legislation for compliance with the EU acquis.
On March 17, 2026, the European Union handed Ukraine the final accession conditions, covering three key negotiating clusters and completing the process of defining the requirements.
It is worth adding that the European Commission is considering introducing a two-stage model for accession to the European Union, which could allow Ukraine to join the bloc much faster, but with limited powers at the first stage.
On May 21, it became known that German Chancellor Friedrich Merz had proposed granting Ukraine a new status as an "associate member" of the EU before it obtains full membership.
The proposed special status of "associate member" would expand Ukraine's rights and obligations compared with the standard status of candidate countries in the traditional accession process. Merz believes that introducing such a status could also support the United States' ongoing negotiation process, given the use of the European mutual assistance mechanism.
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4 of June 2026
