Ukraine is going to open its first chapter in its EU accession negotiations on June 15, 2026, Enlargement Commissioner Marta Kos announced in Kyiv.
A public discussion on Ukraine’s bid to join the European Union was held in Kyiv on 8 June during a visit by Kos, the European External Action Service (EEAS) announced in a release.
The event, titled “Ukraine’s Accession: How to Deliver Europe’s Next Enlargement”, brought together Deputy Prime Minister Taras Kachka, Verkhovna Rada deputy chairman Oleksandr Korniyenko and EU enlargement expert Gerald Knaus, with the discussion moderated by EU ambassador to Ukraine Katarína Mathernová.
EU officials are preparing to open “Cluster 1 on Fundamentals” with Ukraine in mid-June, Kos said, referring to the first set of negotiating topics in the accession process that includes issues such as the rule of law and democratic institutions.
Kos stated the opening of Cluster 1 would be “the biggest step” and described European integration as “a project of the whole nation”, adding that “enlargement is not about setting dates, but about reforms.”
Focus on negotiating clusters and legislative workload
Kachka said the next six months would be “critically important” and that Ukraine’s priority remained opening all negotiating clusters, the EU Delegation reported.
He pointed out that Ukraine had already completed “a significant share of the preparatory work” under a “frontloading approach” and needed to move to “full-scale negotiations”.
He also said reforms remained important and described the rule of law as the foundation of the accession process, adding that tools including the EU Enlargement Package and the Interim Benchmark Assessment Report (IBAR) would help evaluate Ukraine’s readiness for the next stages.
The EU Enlargement Package is the European Commission’s regular set of assessments on candidate countries, while an IBAR is an EU report reviewing progress against interim benchmarks.
Korniyenko said one of the Verkhovna Rada’s key tasks in the coming months was adapting internal procedures to handle an “unprecedented volume of legislation” linked to EU accession.
He added that society needed a clear understanding of the accession timeline and next steps.
Knaus said Ukraine was contributing to European security alongside Europeans’ support for Ukraine, including budget support that also covers military spending.
The discussion was jointly organised by the European Policy Institute in Kyiv (EPIK) and the Ukraine2EU programme.
