The European Union has officially launched the accession process for Ukraine and Moldova.
The formal launch on Monday will require both countries to commit to years of political reforms. Ukraine must start the complex process while it continues to fight Russia’s invasion, but Kyiv views EU membership as a security guarantee and an anchor for its efforts to join the West.
Marking the event, Ukraine’s Deputy Prime Minister, Taras Kachka, joined an intergovernmental conference in Luxembourg that opened talks to help Kyiv align with the 27-member bloc’s laws, standards and values.
“Aggression against Ukraine and threats against Europe is a permanent policy of Russia, so that’s why we need to be united,” Kachka told journalists. “That’s why we need faster and very comprehensive accession to the European Union.”
However, there is considerable concern within the EU concerning Ukraine’s readiness to join, as well as the security implications given the conflict with Russia and Moscow’s announced annexation of five regions.
Ukraine’s best security guarantee would be membership in the NATO military alliance, but the Trump administration in the United States insisted that cannot happen, and other member states are wary while the conflict with Russia continues.
Ukraine’s accession process was long stymied by Hungary under former Prime Minister Viktor Orban, whose illiberal regime was considered Russia’s strongest ally in Europe and a possible threat to the EU project. However, Orban lost the election in April.
His successor, Péter Magyar, has sought a swift return to the EU mainstream, and last week agreed to lift Hungary’s veto on Ukraine’s membership bid – a move that followed shortly after Brussels agreed to unlock over €16bn ($18bn) in frozen EU funds for Budapest.
Russia has also been trying to keep Moldova within its orbit. Last year, Moscow was accused of waging a disinformation campaign driven by artificial intelligence to try to influence elections, although the pro-Western incumbent won.
Countries hoping to join the EU must complete negotiations in 35 policy areas, or chapters, from agriculture to taxation and energy to trade, a process which can take years.
Monday’s meeting saw the opening of five key chapters – grouped as “clusters” -that underpin the values and principles on which the bloc was founded, notably the rule of law, fundamental rights and the functioning of democratic institutions.
The chapters are judiciary and fundamental rights, justice, freedom and security, public procurement, and statistics and financial control. The cluster is important for some EU countries that worry about Ukraine’s ability and willingness to fight corruption.
EU foreign policy chief Kaja Kallas called the start of the process a “major milestone”.
“Both countries have delivered on difficult reforms under extraordinary circumstances. Their membership will make Europe stronger,” she said on X.
Some European countries have pushed to get Ukraine in the bloc as quickly as possible. They see Ukraine as vital to Europe’s security and have helped bolster its armed forces.
Last month, German Chancellor Friedrich Merz urged his EU partners to consider offering Ukraine “associate membership” to help breathe new life into talks aimed at ending more than four years of war with Russia.
Other countries – France and the Netherlands among them – have suggested workarounds to bring Ukraine into the fold more quickly, but without the rights of full membership.
But EU officials, and other countries queuing to join the bloc, insist that it should be a merit-based process that leads to nothing less than full membership.
