Seven of 35 areas: Ukraine is offered a more cautious schedule for EU negotiations

The pace of progress will depend on reforms in the rule of law sector

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04 Nov 2026

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Переговори про вступ України та Молдови до Європейського Союзу

Ukraine may provisionally conclude accession negotiations in 7 areas in 2027. This cautious timeline is set out in a working roadmap by the European Commission, which also calls for the necessary reforms to be accelerated. POLITICO reports on the contents of the document, which is part of the EU enlargement package.

For Moldova, the document outlines faster progress: it could potentially provisionally conclude negotiations in more than 20 areas by 2027. As a result, the negotiating processes of Ukraine and Moldova, which have so far advanced in parallel, could effectively diverge.

To provisionally conclude negotiations in individual areas, Ukraine must meet key rule-of-law requirements in the first half of 2027. The document expresses this need as a call to:

“urgently and significantly accelerate the pace of rule-of-law reforms” — this is the requirement the European Commission’s document sets for Ukraine.

At the same time, the European Commission acknowledges that the full-scale war significantly complicates the necessary transformation.

The roadmap identifies the following areas for possible provisional conclusion of negotiations:

education and culture — the first half of 2027;
intellectual property;
employment and social policy;
industrial policy;
research;
external relations;
foreign and security policy.

The target for the remaining 6 areas is the second half of 2027. However, even provisionally concluding negotiations in these areas would be only an interim step: to become a member, Ukraine must bring its legislation and state institutions into line with European standards across all 35 negotiating areas.

The path to the current stage began on February 28, 2022, when Ukraine applied to join the European Union — 4 days after the start of Russia’s full-scale invasion. In June 2022, both Ukraine and Moldova were granted candidate status. Official accession negotiations began in June 2024.

In October 2026, both countries opened negotiations on clusters related to the internal market, competitiveness, and economic growth.

The European Commission is now calling for 2 more clusters, which remain blocked, to be opened for Ukraine by the end of 2026:

cluster No. 4 — the green agenda and sustainable transport connectivity;
cluster No. 5 — resources, agriculture, and cohesion.

The document states that Ukraine has already met the conditions required to begin negotiations in these areas.

The roadmap itself is not set in stone: it may be updated in line with the pace of reforms. If changes are implemented faster than expected, Ukraine will have the opportunity to make progress in additional areas as well. The European Commission does not set a date for the country’s accession to the EU or a final deadline for concluding negotiations.

The war remains a major obstacle. The rules of the European Union do not explicitly prohibit admitting countries engaged in armed conflict. However, in Ukraine’s case, this raises complex questions about security, territorial integrity, and the EU member states’ mutual-assistance obligations.

Even a peace agreement would not exempt the country from completing reforms and going through all the stages of accession. Once negotiations are concluded, an accession treaty must be prepared, then approved and ratified by the countries of the European Union.

Ukraine intends to sign such a treaty in 2027. However, the proposed roadmap envisages gradual progress and does not guarantee membership by that deadline.

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