Brussels – At the first attempt, the Irish Presidency of the Council may have secured a small – but not insignificant – first success. As several EU sources confirmed to The New Union Post, Hungary’s “scrutiny reserve” on Ukraine’s and Moldova’s accession talks was lifted at the technical-level meeting on 3 July, but only for Cluster 6 – ‘External Relations’.
The green light at the latest meeting of the Working Party on Enlargement and Countries Negotiating Accession to the EU (COELA) – the Council body responsible for preparing the technical and political steps in the enlargement process – means that the ball will now pass to the Committee of Permanent Representatives (COREPER).
If the 27 EU ambassadors confirm the decision, the Presidency of the Council will send letters to both candidates inviting them to submit their negotiating positions on Cluster 6 – ‘External Relations’ – before the Council adopts the EU’s common positions. The key date is likely to be 14 July, when two more chapters – Chapter 30 (External Relations) and Chapter 31 (Foreign, Security and Defence Policy) – may be opened during two separate Accession Conferences on the margins of the General Affairs Council.
A “scrutiny reserve” is not a formal objection but something more subtle. It means that Péter Magyar’s government “remains open” to changing its position on the remaining four accession clusters before the end of the summer. In any case, the most realistic scenario seems to be the opening of just two of the six clusters.
Negotiations with Ukraine and Moldova have been decoupled since the opening of Cluster 1 – ‘Fundamentals’ on 15 June and, technically, now depend solely on assessments of each candidate’s progress in meeting the opening benchmarks. However, three EU diplomats warn against considering the decoupling effective in practice, as “politically speaking, there is a link.”
Hungary no longer blocks Ukraine across the board – as it was with Viktor Orbán – given both the “comprehensive agreement” with Kyiv on expanding the rights of the Hungarian minority in the Transcarpathia region. Yet, the Hungarian Prime Minister warned that the EU “cannot bypass” the Western Balkans “with a different kind of enlargement process” for Ukraine and Moldova.
However, the Commission had already recognised in 2025 that all six clusters were ready to be opened with both Kyiv and Chișinău. Moreover, since March, front-loading work has been carried out informally at the technical level to support progress on the reforms required to align national legislations with the EU acquis across all 33 chapters, allowing formal negotiations to advance more quickly once they begin.
The state of EU relations with Ukraine and Moldova
Just four days after the start of Russia’s war of aggression, on 28 February 2022, Ukraine submitted its application for EU membership, with Moldova following three days later, on 3 March. On 23 June 2022, the European Council endorsed the European Commission’s recommendation to grant Kyiv and Chișinău candidate status.
At the European Council meeting on 14 December 2023, EU leaders gave the green light to open accession negotiations. Following the Council’s approval of the negotiating frameworks, the first intergovernmental conferences with the two countries were held on 25 June 2024 in Luxembourg. As recognised in the 2025 Enlargement Package, the screening process has been successfully concluded with both Kyiv and Chișinău.
With Hungary vetoing the start of Ukraine’s EU negotiations, Moldova’s accession has also been put on hold, as Chișinău’s EU process is tied to Kyiv’s through the so-called “package approach” (which has linked the two dossiers from the very beginning).
On 17 March 2026, technical guidance was provided by the Commission to continue work on EU reforms across all six negotiating clusters, before the change of power in Budapest paved the way for the opening of Cluster 1 – ‘Fundamentals’ with both Ukraine and Moldova on 15 June. With this step, the two accession paths have been decoupled.
Once the first group of five negotiating chapters (out of 33) – focusing on economic criteria, the functioning of democratic institutions, and public administration reform – is opened, the other Clusters can follow with an unanimous decision by the Council.
