EU opens first negotiating cluster in Ukraine's accession talks

On Monday 15 June, during the second EU Intergovernmental Conference in Luxembourg, the European Union officially announced the launch of negotiations with Kyiv under the first negotiating cluster, formally marking the start of Ukraine's EU accession talks.

Source: European Pravda correspondent

Details: The Intergovernmental Conference is taking place in Luxembourg ahead of a meeting of the EU General Affairs Council. The closed-door session began at 19:00 Kyiv time and included addresses by the Presidency of the Council of the EU (held by Cyprus until the end of the month), European Enlargement Commissioner Marta Kos, and Ukrainian Deputy Prime Minister Taras Kachka.

The EU Presidency officially handed Ukraine the interim and final negotiating benchmarks in the form of the EU's common negotiating position on the conditions for accession. European Pravda has previously published a draft of these benchmarks. Sources have told the outlet that the document remains unchanged apart from a clarification of the wording concerning national minorities.

Kachka, for his part, assured the member states that Ukraine would implement the accession conditions and the body of EU law as it currently stands, while also taking into account any changes made before accession. He also formally confirmed Ukraine's acceptance of the benchmarks.

This statement constituted Ukraine's official consent to the launch of the negotiating process.

The participants in the Intergovernmental Conference are expected to publicly announce the start of the negotiations at a briefing on the evening of Monday 15 June.

Read more:

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