What the opening of the first EU accession cluster means for Ukraine

16.06.2026, 13:42 eurointegration.com.ua

It happened. 15 June 2026 has entered the history of Ukraine–EU relations as a turning point in the process of joining the European Union – not only for Ukraine, but also for Moldova.

On Monday in Luxembourg, representatives of the governments of the EU’s 27 member states and Ukraine’s Deputy Prime Minister Taras Kachka officially opened the substantive phase of accession negotiations. For now, however, this applies only to the first negotiation cluster.

According to European Pravda, at yesterday’s meeting Ukraine also received a positive signal that the remaining five clusters could be opened as early as mid-July.

Read more in the article by Sergiy Sydorenko, European Pravda's editor: The cluster is ours! What the EU’s decision on Ukraine, adopted in Luxembourg, means.

The opening of the cluster moves Ukraine’s accession process from the political sphere into the legal sphere. It also marks an important point of no return in the process, which is advantageous for Ukraine.

The reason is that opening a cluster is not merely a ceremonial political event where EU representatives and the candidate country congratulate one another. In addition to participating in the ceremony, the candidate country (Ukraine, in this case) receives a package of negotiation documents from the Council of the European Union – the negotiating position.

In this document, the EU sets out benchmarks – criteria that must be fulfilled before the EU considers negotiations on that cluster completed and agrees that Ukraine has met that part of the accession requirements.

Ukraine has received the benchmarks for the first cluster (as well as for all the others).

Why were all the negotiation clusters not opened at once?

The short answer is that there has been no setback – at least not yet. However, there are indeed political reasons behind the delay.

In Brussels, discussions began about whether some previously approved accession criteria for Ukraine should be reconsidered. While no one confirmed these discussions officially, numerous diplomats (not only Ukrainian ones) who spoke with European Pravda acknowledged that such rumours were circulating.

The idea was to introduce certain exceptions or postponements regarding Ukraine’s integration into the EU single market, particularly in areas such as agriculture, transport and related sectors.

At that point, Kyiv and its supporters in Brussels decided to act proactively and disclosed insider information suggesting that the idea of delaying the opening of clusters was being promoted by Poland and France.

Representatives of those countries denied the allegations, but European Pravda’s sources said the denials were not especially convincing.

To demonstrate that the delay issue had been resolved, Poland, France and Germany jointly announced their support for opening the clusters for Ukraine. A statement on behalf of the three countries was delivered at a closed meeting by Polish Secretary of State for European Affairs Ignacy Niemczycki.

The existence of a consensus was also confirmed by Marta Kos, the European Commissioner for Enlargement. Before the meeting, she said she expected the remaining five clusters to be opened in July. She repeated the same message during a closed session with ambassadors, expressing confidence that this would happen before the summer holiday period.

Moreover, the EU has agreed on a date for opening the five remaining clusters – 14 July.

The key message and commitment made by Ukraine during the opening of the first cluster is that Kyiv will not seek to weaken or dilute EU requirements on fundamental issues. Ukraine has committed itself to implementing those requirements in full.

Deputy Prime Minister Taras Kachka formally committed Ukraine to restoring the full functioning of democratic institutions and the complete protection of rights and freedoms once martial law ends.