BRUSSELS — A joint task force has been set up to advance Ukraine's bid to join the European Union. With additional negotiating areas now open after Hungary dropped its objections, the two sides are accelerating preparations for membership.
The European Commission announced on the 16th that it had formed a task force to support Ukraine's accession to the bloc. Officials from both sides will meet twice a week to assess Ukraine's progress in meeting EU membership requirements and to discuss how to carry out the remaining tasks. According to Euronews, the main items under review are the requirements Ukraine has yet to satisfy, including reforms to establish the rule of law and root out corruption.
Marta Kos, the EU's enlargement commissioner, said the decision to set up the task force came after two negotiating areas were newly opened this week and following talks with Ukrainian Prime Minister Serhii Koretskyi on the next steps. She also said Ukraine was making faster progress than other candidate countries.
Candidates for EU membership must negotiate 35 chapters covering areas such as the rule of law, security, the environment and agriculture. After the 27 member states agreed earlier this week to widen the scope of the talks, Ukraine is now holding discussions in four areas. Two more areas that have yet to open are expected to enter negotiations before the end of the year.
Behind the progress is an easing of tensions between Ukraine and Hungary. After Ukraine's parliament passed by a wide margin an education law for ethnic Hungarian residents in the country's west, Hungary withdrew the veto it had been using to block the opening of further negotiations.
Relations between the two countries have been shifting since a change of government in Hungary. Former Prime Minister Viktor Orban, who pursued a pro-Russia and anti-EU line, stepped down after losing the general election in April. Peter Magyar, a pro-EU conservative who took office the following month, has sought to repair ties with Ukraine. On the 16th, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy and Magyar held their first meeting in Brussels. Zelenskyy, who had been invited to the EU summit, discussed bilateral relations and economic cooperation with Magyar.
Ukraine applied to join the EU together with Moldova shortly after Russia's invasion began in February 2022, and was granted candidate status in June of that year.