The European Union held four simultaneous accession conferences in Brussels today in what Commissioner for Enlargement Marta Kos called “Super Tuesday” for EU enlargement, as Ukraine and Moldova opened their second cluster of membership negotiations and Montenegro and Albania closed multiple chapters, marking the bloc’s most significant single-day enlargement push since the 2004 wave that brought in ten new members.
Ukraine and Moldova opened Cluster 6, covering external relations, security and defence policy, international trade and commercial policy, in their second cluster opening since formal negotiations began. For Ukraine, the security and defence chapter is particularly symbolic, with Kos noting that Ukraine has turned itself into a military powerhouse with drone technologies few nations can match, making its EU membership indispensable to Europe’s future security architecture.
Ukraine and Moldova opened Cluster 6, covering external relations, security and defence policy, international trade and commercial policy, in their second cluster opening since formal negotiations began. For Ukraine, the security and defence chapter is particularly symbolic, with Kos noting that Ukraine has turned itself into a military powerhouse with drone technologies few nations can match, making its EU membership indispensable to Europe’s future security architecture.
Montenegro, aiming to complete all accession negotiations by end of 2026 and join the EU in 2028, closed chapters on competition policy and customs union. Albania closed three chapters covering science and research, education and culture, and external relations.
Serbia was blocked from opening new chapters after at least eight member states refused to grant approval, with the General Affairs Council reaching no agreement on the three chapters under consideration.
The breakthrough was made possible by Hungary’s change of government. Ukraine’s accession had been stalled for years under former Prime Minister Viktor Orbán, whose removal by Peter Magyar’s landslide April election victory cleared the last major political obstacle in the bloc.
