David Lortholary

The European Commission confirms: Ukraine has met the conditions for opening all remaining clusters and is among the candidate countries that have made the most progress towards EU membership. On 4 November, the European Commission published its Annual Report on Ukraine as part of the EU Enlargement Package. The report assesses progress in aligning national legislation with the EU acquis across all negotiation chapters and clusters, highlighting key achievements and setting out recommendations for priority reforms over the coming year. The report recognises that Ukraine remains committed to its EU accession path despite the challenges caused by Russia's war of aggression and has continued to advance on key sectoral reforms. 🔸 The Commission’s assessment remains that Ukraine has met the conditions required to open all remaining negotiation clusters. 🔸 Readiness for accession has improved in 9 chapters, more than twice as many as last year. The pace of progress has also increased in 6 chapters. There has been no deterioration in any chapter and no backsliding on reforms. 🔸 For the first time, Chapter 31 – Foreign, Security and Defence Policy – received the highest progress rating. The report also recognises Ukraine’s contribution to shared European security. The next goal for Ukraine on the accession path is to receive the Interim Benchmark Assessment Report (IBAR) in early 2027. To achieve it, a joint Ukraine-EU working group has been set up on the initiative of President Volodymyr Zelenskyy and European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen.