EU to try again to overcome Hungary's veto on opening clusters 2 and 3 for Ukraine
The EU Council's enlargement working group will again try on Tuesday to approve the screening results for Ukraine's negotiation clusters 2 and 3, which Hungary continues to block. Moldova's screening results for the same clusters will also be reviewed separately.
The EU Council's Enlargement Working Party (COELA) will on Tuesday, September 29, make another attempt to approve the screening results for Ukraine's negotiation clusters 2 and 3 — a step required to move toward formally opening those clusters in accession talks. The information comes from a European Pravda correspondent in Brussels, citing sources within the EU Council.
The meeting begins at 10:00 local time, with the Ukraine issue listed first on the agenda. Member state representatives will once again review the screening results for cluster 2, "Internal Market," and cluster 3, "Competitiveness and Inclusive Growth," which have so far failed to gain approval due to Hungary's opposition. After discussing Ukraine, COELA will separately review Moldova's screening results for the same two clusters.
Previous attempts
On September 22, Ukraine's Deputy Prime Minister for European and Euro-Atlantic Integration, Vsevolod Chentsov, presented Ukraine's progress on fulfilling its accession negotiation commitments at a COELA meeting. COELA last attempted to vote on the cluster 2 and 3 screening results on September 8, but again failed to reach agreement due to continued blocking by Hungary.
The approval process for the screening results of these two clusters began back in July 2026. On July 17, however, Hungary blocked the decision regarding Ukraine, agreeing only to advance cluster 3 for Moldova. Most EU member states, led at the time by the Irish presidency, did not support this option, which would have separated Ukraine and Moldova in the negotiation process.
