Ukrainian govt approves negotiating positions on EU accession for Clusters 4 and 5
Ukraine’s Cabinet of Ministers has approved negotiating positions for Clusters 4 and 5, and Ukraine is now ready to open negotiations on all six clusters, the Office of the Deputy Prime Minister for European and Euro-Atlantic Integration reported.
"Based on these documents, Ukraine’s progress in meeting the membership criteria will be assessed. The negotiating positions were prepared taking into account the European Commission’s reports on the results of the screening of Ukraine’s legislation for compliance with EU law," the office said in a statement.
Cluster 4 covers such areas of legislation as transport, energy, trans-European networks, the environment, and climate change, while Cluster 5 includes agriculture and rural development, food safety, veterinary and phytosanitary policy, fisheries and aquaculture, regional policy and coordination of structural instruments, as well as financial and budgetary provisions.
According to the report, on May 14 the Cabinet of Ministers approved the roadmaps required to open Cluster 1, "Fundamentals of Accession," in Ukraine–EU pre-accession negotiations, and on May 30 it approved Ukraine’s negotiating positions for EU accession under Cluster 2, "Internal Market," and Cluster 6, "External Relations." Ukraine has also completed screening with the European Union for negotiating Cluster 3, "Competitiveness and Inclusive Growth," Cluster 4, "Green Agenda and Sustainable Connectivity," and Cluster 5, "Resources, Agriculture, and Cohesion Policy."
On September 30, EU Commissioner for Enlargement Marta Kos reported that Ukraine had completed the process of screening Ukrainian legislation for compliance with European law.
The EU Council welcomed the successful completion of the screening (legislative assessment) by Ukraine and Moldova and took note of the European Commission’s assessment of readiness to open negotiations across all six clusters, a key step in the EU accession process, Deputy Prime Minister for European and Euro-Atlantic Integration Taras Kachka said on December 17.