Brussels Unblocks: Ukraine, Moldova Open EU Talks

For Serbia, which has spent years in Brussels waiting to open and close its remaining chapters, the news from Luxembourg carries real weight. The moment Ukraine and Moldova enter the working phase of negotiations, the geography of enlargement shifts, and with it the order of attention that European capitals pay to the Western Balkans. At an intergovernmental conference on June 15, the two countries officially opened their first negotiating cluster, putting back in motion a process that had been stuck for two years.

The cluster in question is Fundamentals, covering democratic institutions, public administration reform, the rule of law, the judiciary and basic rights. In the enlargement methodology this cluster plays a particular role: it opens first and closes among the last, because the European institutions use it to gauge how ready a candidate truly is to take on the legal and institutional framework of the Union. In other words, what was opened in Luxembourg will not be closed quickly, but the start of talks alone had been politically out of reach for years.

Why did the veto fall now?

The blockade had been held throughout by the government of Viktor Orban, which for two years refused to consent to opening talks with Kyiv. That resistance disappeared after Orban lost the April 2026 election, and the new Hungarian government withdrew the veto last week. EU member states then formally approved the opening of negotiations on June 12, clearing the last obstacle to the Luxembourg session.

Seen from Belgrade, this episode offers a clear lesson in how multilateralism works in practice. A single capital can hold up an entire process for years, and when its politics change, decisions that looked frozen are taken within days. The EU’s senior officials spoke of recognising the determination and courage the two countries had shown in carrying out reforms, but the underlying dynamic shows that the political will of member states, not just the progress of candidates, is what ultimately opens the door.

For Ukraine, negotiating in the middle of a war, opening the cluster is both a technical and a symbolic act. For Moldova, a small country between Romania and Ukraine, it confirms a European perspective that was long more promise than process. Both countries now enter a phase in which Brussels will scrutinise every law, every judicial reform and every change in how the public administration works.

What does this mean for the Western Balkans?

At the same intergovernmental conference, Montenegro closed two more chapters, a reminder that enlargement is not solely an eastern story. Podgorica remains the furthest along on its path, while Serbia sits in a more delicate position, with open questions on the rule of law and foreign policy alignment that appear regularly in Commission reports.

The entry of Kyiv and Chisinau into the working phase of talks reshapes the competition for time, money and Brussels’ political attention. The more candidates that reach the same stage, the more closely each member state will weigh to whom, and at what pace, the door is opened. Belgrade will have to reckon with benchmarks that are not eased but applied to everyone with equal rigour.

The cluster opened in Luxembourg will, as a rule, close years later. The next intergovernmental conference will show how ready Kyiv and Chisinau are to match the political decision they have just received with reforms. And for those who follow the road to the Union from Belgrade, one question can no longer be put off: are we ready to move at the pace others are now setting?