{"id":863166,"date":"2026-06-12T22:31:14","date_gmt":"2026-06-12T22:31:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/863166\/"},"modified":"2026-06-12T22:31:14","modified_gmt":"2026-06-12T22:31:14","slug":"eu-agrees-launch-of-accession-process-for-ukraine-and-moldova-european-union-news","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/863166\/","title":{"rendered":"EU agrees launch of accession process for Ukraine and Moldova | European Union News"},"content":{"rendered":"

Progress for Kyiv\u2019s membership bid given the green light after Hungary\u2019s new government lifts Budapest\u2019s veto.<\/p>\n

Published On 12 Jun 202612 Jun 2026<\/p>\n

The European Union has announced that the accession process for Ukraine and Moldova will launch next week.<\/p>\n

At a meeting in Brussels on Friday, ambassadors from the 27 EU nations agreed to officially recommence negotiations with the two countries in Luxembourg on Monday.<\/p>\n

Recommended Stories list of 3 itemsend of list<\/p>\n

EU leaders agreed to open accession talks<\/a> with Ukraine and Moldova in December 2023. However, negotiations were paused due to opposition from Hungary, led at the time by pro-Russian Prime Minister Viktor Orban, to Kyiv\u2019s membership bid.<\/p>\n

Both Kyiv and Chisinau<\/a> view EU membership as additional security against Russian aggression. Moscow insists that maintaining control over its \u201cnear abroad\u201d \u2013 its term for the post-Soviet states \u2013 is key to its national security.<\/p>\n

\u201cAll member states agreed to open the first accession negotiations cluster with Ukraine and Moldova,\u201d European Council President Antonio Costa and European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen said in a joint social media post.<\/p>\n

Hungary\u2019s new government, which took power in May, agreed last week to drop Orban\u2019s veto, allowing the accession process to resume.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis is a recognition of the determination, courage and hard work shown by both countries in advancing reforms, even in the face of immense challenges,\u201d Costa and von der Leyen said.<\/p>\n

\u201cEnlargement is a strategic choice,\u201d they said, adding, \u201cIn a world marked by growing uncertainty, a larger European Union is in our common interest.\u201d<\/p>\n

Entry negotiations with Kyiv were formally opened<\/a> in June 2024, kickstarting a complex process that usually takes years and involves negotiations on everything from agriculture to the rule of law.<\/p>\n

The move was largely symbolic, intended as a powerful show of support for Ukraine after Russia\u2019s full-scale invasion in 2022.<\/p>\n

New Hungarian Prime Minister Peter Magyar struck a deal with Kyiv on the rights of Ukraine\u2019s Hungarian ethnic minority last week. The issue has long been a sticking point between the neighbouring countries.<\/p>\n

But Magyar has said Hungary does not support a fast-track procedure for Ukraine to join the EU.<\/p>\n

He said Budapest will hold a referendum on Ukraine\u2019s membership, should it \u201csucceed in closing all 33 accession chapters within the next 10 to 15 years\u201d.<\/p>\n

Talks will begin on Monday with the opening of the \u201cfundamentals\u201d section of the process, Costa and van der Leyen said in their statement.<\/p>\n

This covers basic principles such as rule of law that the two candidate countries will be expected to adhere to.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Progress for Kyiv\u2019s membership bid given the green light after Hungary\u2019s new government lifts Budapest\u2019s veto. Published On…\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":863167,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_share_on_mastodon":"0"},"categories":[2],"tags":[440,8697,51,29065,50,80,52,273],"class_list":["post-863166","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-news","tag-europe","tag-european-union","tag-headlines","tag-moldova","tag-news","tag-politics","tag-top-stories","tag-ukraine"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@us\/116739512052416192","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/863166","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=863166"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/863166\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/863167"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=863166"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=863166"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=863166"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}