The EU officials have removed the phrase “as soon as possible” from their draft conclusion for the Oct. 15-16 European Council sumit regarding the opening of the remaining accession clusters for Ukraine and Moldova.
The change was reported Thursday by European Pravda, whose correspondent compared versions of the draft dated Oct. 13 and Oct. 14. in Brussels.
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Accession negotiations cover 33 chapters grouped into six clusters that organize the legal and institutional reforms Ukraine must adopt and implement in order to formally join the EU.
So far, Ukraine and Moldova opened Cluster 1 – Fundamentals on June 15, and Cluster 6 – External Relations on July 14. Clusters 2 and 3 were opened on Tuesday, Oct. 13. after Hungary lifted its long-standing veto on Ukraine’s accession bid.
The two countries’ paths remain closely linked, and any decision regarding their accession requires unanimous support from all 27 states.
What changed
The softer wording comes as Ireland, which holds the rotating presidency of the Council of the EU, said it aims to open Ukraine’s two remaining clusters – Cluster 4, on the green agenda and sustainable connectivity, and Cluster 5, on resources, agriculture and cohesion – before the end of 2026.
In the Oct. 13 version, the section on Ukraine said EU leaders looked forward to opening all other clusters as soon as possible, in line with the bloc’s merit-based approach.
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The updated draft keeps the expectation that the clusters will be opened under the merit-based approach but no longer includes any reference to timing.
The same edit was made to a separate paragraph on Moldova, which also previously called for the remaining clusters to be opened as soon as possible.
Clusters opened after months of stagnation
According to European Pravda, both paragraphs still welcome the intergovernmental conferences held on Tuesday, Oct. 13, 2026, at which Clusters 2 and 3 were opened for Ukraine and Moldova, following months of stagnation due to Hungary’s veto.
The breakthrough finally came through after Ukraine’s parliament, the Verkhovna Rada, passed amendments expanding education rights for national minorities and introduced a special status for general secondary schools serving national minorities.
Hungarian Prime Minister Péter Magyar welcomed the move in a statement, saying that the amendments would make it fundamentally easier for Hungarian children in Ukraine’s Transcarpathia region to use their native language.
Hours after Ukraine adopted the law, Hungary dropped its long-standing veto and made it possible for the country to continue its path towards the EU.
“I can confirm that all EU member states have agreed to: open clusters 2 and 3 for Ukraine and Moldova,” Irish Minister of State for European Affairs and Defence Thomas Byrne said on Monday, Oct. 12, calling Oct. 13 another “Super Tuesday” for the candidate countries.
The European Commission previously proposed limiting Ukraine’s access to EU farm subsidies and markets for sensitive products even after accession, which Agriculture Minister Taras Vysotskyi rejected on Tuesday, Oct. 5. by saying that Kyiv cannot accept permanent restrictions.
Hungary’s long-standing veto
Ukraine’s application had been largely stalled for years due to vetoes from Hungary’s former-leader Viktor Orbán. His defeat by Magyar in April removed the blockage, allowing talks to resume.
However, Magyar’s diplomatic stance on Ukraine continues to repeatedly shift, and Ukrainian authorities have linked it to that of Orbán for several times.
In June, President Volodymyr Zelensky and Magyar sealed what the Hungarian PM described as a “historic agreement,” formally securing the political, educational, cultural and linguistic rights of ethnic Hungarian communities in Transcarpathia.
Budapest later tied the opening of further clusters to Ukraine turning those commitments into law.
Around the same time in June, Magyar said he secured the removal of language accelerating Ukraine’s EU accession from the European Council summit declaration after four hours of negotiations.
The conclusion welcomed Ukraine’s accession process but omitted its speeding up.
By blocking the joint letter to the European Council and Commission outlining the EU’s common position on opening five remaining clusters, Hungary became the sole objector among all member states.
During a Council of the EU working group meeting on July 17, Hungary blocked the procedure. Although Budapest agreed to advance Cluster 3 for Moldova, other member states rejected the request decoupling the two candidate countries.
No conclusion was reached at the time.
Hungary then blocked Clusters 2 and 3 again on July 22.
“There are six clusters in total, and we don’t think opening them all at once is a good idea – partly because the ink on the first one isn’t even dry yet, and partly because it would send the wrong message to the countries of the Western Balkans,” Magyar told reporters at the Council meeting in Brussels.
On Sept. 8, Ukraine faced its fourth refusal from Hungary, as Kyiv said Budapest had yet to specify its demands in exchange for lifting its objection.
“For 17 months, the government of Viktor Orbán blocked the opening of clusters, although Ukraine has fulfilled all the conditions for this,” Ukrainian Foreign Ministry spokesperson Heorhii Tykhyi told European Pravda.
“But even having lost power, Orbán’s team continues to disrupt the normalization of Hungary’s relations with Ukraine,” he continued.
During his tenure, Orbán repeatedly cited concerns over the rights of the Hungarian minority as a reason Hungary had delayed opening the first negotiation cluster.
Hungary previously also blocked technical work on clusters 2 through 6 for Ukraine, later lifting its objection to Cluster 6, covering foreign and security policy, trade policy, and relations with third countries.