Prime Minister of Ukraine Denys Shmyhal expects to open the first three negotiation Clusters on Ukraine's accession to the European Union in the first half of 2025, and all six clusters by the end of the year.

"We have already completed bilateral screening within the framework of three negotiation clusters: 'Fundamentals,' 'Internal Market' and 'External Relations.' We expect that these negotiation clusters will be officially opened in the coming months. Actually, we hope that this will happen in the first half of this year," Shmyhal said at the conference titled "Ukraine's EU accession: Choice has been made, matter of time" on Tuesday in Kyiv.

The Prime Minister said he still expects that all six negotiation Clusters will be opened in 2025.

"We are actively working to achieve this goal. I am sure that there are no real obstacles to this goal. All that is needed is political will and a shared commitment to hard work. We are working hard and I hope that this will be implemented during this year. Ukraine is ready for this," he added.

As reported, European Commissioner for Enlargement Marta Kos hopes to open the first three clusters of Ukraine's negotiations with the EU on joining the Union in the first half of this year – during the Polish presidency, and the remaining three by December.

On March 20, Deputy Prime Minister for European and Euro-Atlantic Integration of Ukraine, Minister of Justice Olha Stefanishyna stated that Ukraine is ready to open negotiation Clusters on EU accession both sequentially and within the framework of one intergovernmental conference, depending on the progress of negotiations with the Hungarian side.