EU looking for solution to problem with starting accession talks with Ukraine

BRUSSELS. Nov 5 (Interfax) - Ukraine has met the terms of starting accession talks with the European Union in a number of clusters, yet Hungary keeps blocking the process, the European Commission said on Tuesday.

"This remains a concern for 26 countries who want to really move forward with the process, and we are consulting with the President of the Council to find ways to proceed," EU High Representative for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy Kaja Kallas said at a press conference in Brussels on Tuesday.

"We are working together with the Danish Presidency on the idea that we should get a mandate from the Council that we could go on with the work in the working groups. And we will see, if this will be possible. This would mean that we can still discuss and do the job, but of course for this we needed a mandate - also for these working level groups," EU Enlargement Commissioner Marta Kos said for her part.

While official talks need to open in certain clusters, work on reforms may continue even before the talks begin, she said.

Both EU officials presented the 2025 enlargement package, assessing preparations of candidate states for entering into the European Union, to the press.

The European Commission believes that Ukraine has met the terms of opening cluster talks on the main principles, external relations and the domestic market.

The EU treaty envisages consent of all 27 member states on every stage of the accession process. Hungary has been vetoing the process for now.

"The Ukrainian government has signaled its objective to provisionally close accession negotiations by the end of 2028. The [European] Commission is committed to support this ambitious objective but considers that, to meet it an acceleration of the pace of reforms is required, notably with regards to the fundamentals, in particular rule of law," the European Commission said in the evaluation of Ukraine's efforts to enter into the EU.