BRUSSELS, 21 May. /TASS/. The European Union intends to start formal negotiations on the admission of Moldova and Ukraine to the association as early as June 25, the European edition of Politico reported, citing five diplomats. The association's member states were ready to do so as early as December, but the decision was postponed due to Hungary's opposition and fears that the EU enlargement issue could muddy the waters in the June 6-9 European Parliament elections.
According to the newspaper, an EU-Ukraine intergovernmental conference is scheduled for 25 June. The desire to make some progress on EU enlargement stems from the fact that the EU Council presidency will pass from Belgium to Hungary on 1 July. According to the newspaper's sources, it is not yet clear how Budapest will react to Ukraine's entry into the organisation. "As always, it is impossible to predict what Hungary will do until (Prime Minister Viktor) Orbán himself speaks," said a diplomat quoted by the newspaper.
Politico pointed out that Hungary could still throw a spanner in the works of Ukraine's EU accession plans, which is why Kiev is "intensively engaged in bilateral diplomacy" with Budapest, especially regarding the Hungarian minority in Ukraine, to change the minds of the authorities there. According to the newspaper, Hungary has submitted an eleven-point document outlining its main concerns regarding possible enlargement. Kiev has proposed measures to remedy the situation and is awaiting a response from the Hungarian authorities, the paper said. Meanwhile, the Netherlands has also opposed the accession of new countries to the EU, although Politico gave no details on the issue.
On 12 March, the European Commission announced that it has drawn up a framework guide for future accession negotiations with Ukraine and Moldova and will submit it to the EU Council. According to the EC, the framework guide sets out guidelines for accession negotiations with individual candidate countries. After the European Commission presents the guidelines to the Member States and the EU Council approves them, Brussels will actually start negotiations with Kiev and Chisinau.
At a meeting in Brussels on 14 and 15 December 2023, EU leaders decided to open negotiations with Ukraine and Moldova on their admission to the Association. However, the European Commission first had to choose the "opportune moment" to actually start negotiations, prepare the framework guidelines for them and present them to the EU Council. Negotiations are not expected to start until autumn.
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