Kachka: EU to approve decision on readiness for talks with Ukraine, despite Hungary's objection
Deputy Prime Minister for European and Euro-Atlantic Integration of Ukraine Taras Kachka admits that in case of Hungary’s disagreement on the opening of clusters, the European Union will approve a decision on readiness to conduct all negotiation work without waiting for the opening of clusters.
"In November, as Marta Kos said, all six Clusters will be in the Council of the European Union… Somewhere in early December, all clusters will be ready to open negotiations," Kachka told journalists on Thursday in Kyiv.
According to him, there are several options for further developments: the first, Hungary agrees to the opening of Clusters; the second is the transition to a qualified majority within the negotiation process.
"My task is to make 100% of all efforts to ensure that we legally, formally open negotiations. If this does not happen, there is a kind of insurance: on December 19 [the European Council summit] for both Ukraine and Moldova together, the EU will approve a decision that it is ready to conduct all work on the negotiations, without waiting for the opening of clusters," the Deputy Prime Minister said.
In this option, all negotiation work will begin on January 1, 2026.
"This means: no matter what happens, with or without Hungary, we will start working further," Kachka said.
He also said Ukraine expects that in the future it would go together with Moldova in the accession negotiations.
As reported, on November 4, the European Commission presented a report within the framework of the European Union Enlargement Package 2025. Ukraine received the best recognition of its work in three years: in each of the 36 chapters – a positive result. The report states that Ukraine is consistently making progress in implementing legislation in accordance with EU standards. The European Commission confirmed that there is readiness to open 1, 2 and 6 negotiation clusters.
