EU accession will be phased according to reforms and timelines: a plan is being prepared for Ukraine and three other countries

The European Union is developing a special roadmap for Ukraine that is meant to outline the necessary reforms and the approximate timelines for completing key stages of accession negotiations. The same plans are being prepared for Moldova, Montenegro and Albania.

The preparation of the documents was reported by Politico, citing two senior officials of the European Commission.

For each of the four countries, the plans aim to define specific reforms and timelines for passing the main negotiation stages. In particular, this concerns clusters — groups of reforms organized by policy area that candidates must implement on their path to membership.

A spokesperson for the European Commission confirmed that the new documents are intended to help the most successful candidates complete the necessary changes:

“The new ‘roadmaps’ will set out the path to concluding accession negotiations. They will contain a clear list of priorities: timelines and concrete outcomes that will help the candidate countries that have made the most progress to complete the necessary reforms.”

The roadmaps will include commitments not only for the candidates but also for EU member states, since further progress in the negotiations requires their consent.

Such plans are not being developed yet for Kosovo, North Macedonia and Bosnia and Herzegovina: these countries are at earlier stages of the accession process. The documents will also not cover Georgia, Turkey or Serbia, whose negotiations have significantly slowed down due to problems with democratic and judicial reforms.

The President of the European Commission, Ursula von der Leyen, previously said that candidate countries with the most progress should receive targeted support.

At the same time, the EU is reviewing its overall approach to future members. They may be granted phased access to the European market and joint projects even before gaining full membership.

The results of this review are planned to be presented to EU leadership on 6 October. Enlargement of the Union will also be a topic at the European leaders summit in Brussels, scheduled for 15–16 October.

Earlier we wrote:

• With Bandera Ukraine will not join the EU: Poland’s deputy prime minister made a sharp statement
• The EU will open the first negotiation cluster for Ukraine and Moldova on 15 June
• The EU announced the final conditions for Ukraine’s accession across three clusters
• EU accession in 2027: without waiting decades. What Brussels has planned for Kyiv
• The European Commission gave the green light for Ukraine’s accession, but Hungary stands in the way