Brussels – The EU accession paths of Ukraine and Moldova remain linked under the so-called ‘package approach’, and almost no one seems to question it any more. Certainly not the Council. Kyiv, too, is now putting greater pressure on the EU to maintain this approach to the negotiations. Remaining a closely linked pair of candidates – particularly given the risks associated with a failure of Chișinău’s accession – will undoubtedly play into Kyiv’s hands.
“When Ukraine and Moldova are moving so closely together, that is great,” Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky told EU leaders on the second day of the European Council summit, on 16 October. “It would be simply wrong to split us apart on our way into the EU,” he added, referring to Kyiv’s efforts to support Chișinău and “create the conditions” for its security and reiterating that decoupling the two countries would be “morally wrong.”
In this regard, the Ukrainian leader recalled that “we are doing a lot to keep our region stable,” even beyond the national borders. In particular, “we are protecting Moldova from Russia’s attempts to cause trouble through Transnistria,” the secessionist region that operates as a de facto independent semi-presidential republic and has hosted around 1,000 Russian troops since 1992. Zelensky noted that “we even have to pull some of our military forces away from other tasks to keep the risks in Transnistria under control,” helping Chișinău remain “stable and independent.”
Despite expectations that the formal opening of Cluster 1 – ‘Fundamentals’ on 15 June would mark a turning point, Kyiv’s and Chișinău’s accession paths have remained linked under the same ‘package approach’ established when the two countries jointly applied for EU membership in 2022. At the moment, there is still no political will in the Council to decouple the two accession paths. As EU officials expect, only the fulfilment of the interim benchmarks (IBAR) – which will make it possible to begin provisionally closing chapters – may represent the moment when, “de facto, it becomes clear that [the decoupling, ed.] has happened.” But even this cannot be taken for granted.
Speaking about the Interim Benchmark Assessment Report, the Ukrainian president revealed that “a Special Task Force was set up together with our European friends” on 15 October to work on “joint decisions and concrete steps to move things forward.” Kyiv’s goal is to secure “a positive assessment as soon as possible – and to do the job right,” paving the way for the final stage of the accession process. The news was later confirmed by Commissioner for Enlargement Marta Kos.
Before that, however, the remaining two negotiating clusters – Cluster 4 – ‘Green Agenda and Sustainable Connectivity’ and Cluster 5 – ‘Resources, Agriculture and Cohesion’ – need to be closed “by the end of the year,” Zelensky urged.
The Ukrainian leader recalled the conditions under which his country is pursuing EU accession. “We are fighting for ourselves and for the European way of life – in a real war, on the front line,” facing Russian attacks “every single day.” At the same time, “we are changing our country from within,” upholding European values and interests “at a time when some of the world’s most powerful players want the EU gone” – including the United States under Donald Trump.
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 Viktor Orbán’s 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. To date, 24 negotiating chapters have been opened.
