The Cypriot presidency officially handed over to Ukraine the interim and final criteria.
At the EU level, the date for the opening of five clusters in the negotiations on Ukraine's accession has already been agreed upon – it is July 14. This is stated in an article by "European Truth" (Kyiv). It is noted that on this day there will be a meeting of the EU Council on general issues. While this event is not yet on the EU Council's calendar, the date has been planned and discussed by European ministers earlier.
Without naming a specific date, European Commissioner for Neighborhood and Enlargement Olivér Várhelyi hinted at a press conference after a meeting in Luxembourg that the opening of the remaining clusters in the negotiations with Ukraine may take place on July 14. "Today for me is mega-Monday... I hope we will have an 'incredible Tuesday' in July," she stated. The article notes that July 14 falls on a Tuesday.
As is known, in Luxembourg at the second Intergovernmental Conference, the EU officially announced the start of negotiations with Kyiv on the first negotiation cluster, which marked the official opening of negotiations for Ukraine's accession to the EU. The Cypriot presidency officially handed over to Ukraine the interim and final criteria for the negotiations (the so-called "benchmarks") in the form of a joint negotiation position of the EU regarding the conditions for accession. Ukraine's Deputy Prime Minister for European and Euro-Atlantic Integration Taras Kachka is convinced that there will be unanimous agreement among EU countries regarding the opening of the remaining five negotiation clusters with Ukraine.
On February 28, 2022, shortly after the start of the Russian invasion, Ukraine submitted an application for EU membership. President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelensky demanded immediate admission under a "new special procedure," and the presidents of eight EU countries called for an acceleration of the accession process. European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen stated that she supports Ukraine's accession, but this process will take time. On March 1, 2022, the European Parliament recommended making Ukraine an official candidate for membership, and on March 10, 2022, the Council of the European Union requested the opinion of the European Commission regarding the application. On April 8, 2022, von der Leyen presented a legislative questionnaire to Zelensky, to which Ukraine responded on April 17. On June 17, 2022, the European Commission recommended granting Ukraine candidate status for EU membership. Simultaneously with the recommendation to approve candidate status, Brussels set forth requirements for Kyiv to carry out reforms, providing a list of seven points. On June 23, 2022, the European Parliament overwhelmingly adopted a resolution in support of EU candidate status for Ukraine, and the Council of the European Union granted Ukraine candidate status for EU membership. On December 14, 2023, the Council of the European Union decided to start negotiations on Ukraine's accession to the European Union.
