The EU has witnessed a day that is unlikely to be repeated often in its history. Four candidate countries moved forward on their paths towards membership in a single day: Ukraine, Albania, Moldova and Montenegro. The last time such a broad enlargement marathon took place was more than two decades ago.
Ukraine drew the most attention. In Brussels, it opened another bloc of accession talks, this time focusing on an area of exceptional importance amid Russia’s aggression: foreign policy, security and defence. Moldova made the same move, while Albania began closing its first negotiation chapters and Montenegro continued its march towards the finish line.
“Today is a Super Tuesday for EU enlargement,” Marta Kos, Commissioner for Enlargement, wrote on X. She said it was the first day in more than 20 years when four accession conferences had taken place on the same day. “This moment must now be turned into concrete results,” she added.
Ukraine opens key security cluster
For Kyiv, opening the sixth negotiating bloc carries particular significance. Known as Cluster 6, or “external relations”, it covers two areas that touch on Ukraine’s very position within Europe. The first chapter concerns the EU’s external relations, including trade policy, international commitments and development cooperation. The second focuses on the Union’s foreign, security and defence policy.
This part of the negotiations carries a powerful symbolic weight. Ukraine has been defending itself against Russian aggression for more than four years, and its security experience has become one of the reasons why its future role in Europe matters so much.
“The future security architecture of our continent is unimaginable without Ukraine,” Marta Kos said after the bloc was opened. She added that Ukraine had become “a military powerhouse with capabilities few other nations can match” and Europe’s defense “needs to build on this experience”.
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The Ukrainian government stresses that European integration is continuing despite domestic political changes. Deputy Prime Minister Taras Kachka said neither the accession process nor the implementation of reforms was at risk. He was responding to political turmoil in Kyiv, where President Volodymyr Zelenskyy dismissed Prime Minister Yulia Svyrydenko and launched a broad government reshuffle.
“The process of Ukraine’s accession is going without any interruptions. We see no major obstacles for the process of accession,” Kachka told journalists.
According to Ukrainian Foreign Minister Andrii Sybiha, foreign policy is one of the areas where Kyiv has already moved significantly closer to EU standards. “I am proud to say that over the past years we have reached a level of 99% alignment of Ukraine’s foreign policy with that of the EU,” he stated.
Later this week, EU ambassadors will hold further talks on whether to open the remaining negotiating clusters.
Four clusters still to go
Ukraine has now opened the second of six thematic clusters, covering a total of 33 chapters. The first was Cluster 1, opened in June, which deals with the fundamentals: democracy, the rule of law and judicial reform. It is the first cluster to open and the last one to close.
Kyiv still has four more areas ahead. They include the internal market, competitiveness, the environment, energy, transport, agriculture and cohesion policy. Some of these areas could prove politically more difficult. Several EU member states, for example, are already concerned about the impact of Ukrainian agriculture and competition on the European market.
The European Commission, however, says it is technically ready for further progress. “Everything is ready for all clusters to be opened. As soon as possible,” Kos told The Kyiv Independent. The speed of the next steps, she added, will depend on EU member states and the Irish presidency.
Progress across the Balkans and beyond
Although attention was focused mainly on Kyiv, European enlargement is a much broader process. Moldova opened the same bloc as Ukraine, covering external relations, security and defence. For both countries, the move carries major geopolitical importance, as their European ambitions unfold in a challenging security environment.
Albania, meanwhile, took another step in a different phase of the process: it began closing individual chapters. This means the EU has already confirmed in some areas that the country has aligned itself sufficiently with Union rules.
Among the candidate countries, Montenegro is the furthest ahead. On the same day, it closed additional chapters and now has 18 negotiation chapters completed – more than half of the total.
A milestone, not the finish line
Accession talks are not one single negotiation, but a long series of smaller steps. A candidate country must gradually prove that its laws, institutions and economy meet European Union standards. Every opening and closing of individual areas requires approval from all member states.
“Super Tuesday” therefore was not a day when Ukraine or other candidates suddenly jumped closer to membership. But it was an important signal that, after years of caution, EU enlargement is once again moving to the centre of attention.
