Commission roadmap expects Ukraine to close seven EU chapters in 2027

What the roadmap says

The roadmap expects Kyiv to close 7 of the 33 negotiating chapters in 2027. Moldova, negotiating in parallel, is pencilled in for 25 closures in the same year.

Marta Kos, the enlargement commissioner, tied any closure to the rule-of-law benchmarks. She said the Commission expects Ukraine to meet the interim benchmarks in the first half of 2027, and that chapter closures can begin once that happens. A Commission official speaking in Brussels called finishing the negotiations by the end of 2028 ambitious and said it would require reforms to speed up. Kos declined to put a date on completion. "I cannot say that yet," she said, adding that the more progress Ukraine makes, the more precisely timing can be discussed.

Ukraine has opened 4 of its 6 clusters and has not closed a single chapter.

Kyiv disputes the word blocking

Kachka told Euronews, in an interview reported on 3 November, that Hungary is not raising new objections to the last two clusters. "I think the word 'blocking' is misleading," he said.

He said there were "no substantive demands, disagreements, or concerns" behind the delay, and that Budapest had asked for more time to review the documents underpinning the next stage. Asked whether the long dispute over education rights for the Hungarian minority in Transcarpathia was still in play, Kachka said the issue "has already been resolved".

That account sits awkwardly with the record of the past month. At a meeting of COELA, the Council of the EU's enlargement working party, on 27 October, Hungary refused to approve the screening results for clusters 4 and 5.

One diplomat told European Pravda that Hungary's position had not changed. Another said re-listing the item was political pressure on Budapest rather than a real attempt to get a decision that day.

Four clusters open, two frozen

Fundamentals opened together with Moldova on 15 June 2026, and External Relations followed on 14 July. Clusters 2 and 3, Internal Market and Competitiveness and Inclusive Growth, opened on 13 October. That came a day after the Verkhovna Rada adopted Bill No. 16119 on the educational rights of national minorities. Between them the two clusters cover 17 chapters.

Kos had pressed the case in September. Speaking in Wicklow on 2 September, she said "Ukraine has delivered" the work needed to open the clusters and that "we should deliver too".

The remaining two have been stuck since the summer. Hungary withheld approval for clusters 4 and 5 at COELA meetings on 17 July, 22 July, 29 September, 20 October and 27 October. Cluster 4 covers transport, energy, trans-European networks, the environment and climate. Cluster 5 covers agriculture, fisheries, regional policy and budgetary provisions.

What happens next

Koretskyi told the Euronews Enlargement Summit on 3 November that Kyiv expects to open the two remaining clusters before the end of 2026. He also expects a positive assessment of the interim benchmarks in early 2027. He named judicial reform, anti-corruption and public administration as priorities, and said Kyiv and the Commission have set up a joint task force to accelerate the work.

Ireland, which holds the rotating Council presidency, also wants the remaining clusters opened before the end of 2026. Opening them requires agreement from all 27 member states.

Ukraine's stated goal remains finishing the negotiations by the end of 2028. The 2027 target for the first seven closures rests on benchmarks Ukraine has not yet met.