Costa: EU to open new negotiation chapters with Ukraine, Moldova and Albania

Antonio Costa, president of the European Council, announced today that tomorrow the European Union will officially open new negotiating chapters with Ukraine. This step is necessary in the process the country must complete in order to join the EU.

In a post on X, Costa welcomed today’s decision by the member states to open two new negotiating chapters with Ukraine, Moldova and Albania, while expressing his hope that the remaining chapters would also be opened as soon as possible.

Also today, the 27 member states agreed to open two new negotiating chapters with Moldova, whose accession to the EU is linked to that of Ukraine.

A new opportunity in Ukraine’s process of moving closer to the EU emerged after the country’s parliament approved earlier today a law on minority rights in education and language use. Hungary had requested this reform.

On Tuesday, three more negotiating chapters with Montenegro are also expected to be provisionally closed. The country aims to join the EU in 2028, together with Albania.

Ukraine and the other candidate countries still have significant work to do before they meet the “acquis communautaire”, meaning alignment with EU rules in various areas, such as the environment, agriculture and the internal market.

Each country must close at least 35 negotiating chapters. Membership must then be approved unanimously by the bloc’s 27 states and ratified in each of them, either by parliament or through a referendum.