EUROPEAN COUNCIL CHIEF PUSHES TO BYPASS HUNGARY ON UKRAINE’S EU ACCESSION

European Council President António Costa is spearheading efforts to advance Ukraine’s EU membership bid, seeking ways to sidestep Hungary’s persistent veto ahead of a critical leaders’ summit in Copenhagen this week, Politico reports.

According to five diplomats and officials cited by the outlet, Costa has been rallying EU capitals to support a plan that would lower the threshold for opening accession talks with Ukraine and Moldova. Under his proposal, so-called negotiating clusters could be launched with approval from a qualified majority of member states, rather than unanimous consent. Closing clusters would still require unanimity, but the change would allow both countries to begin reform processes and align with EU standards despite opposition from one or two holdouts.

Costa has pressed his case during a recent tour of European capitals, as well as in bilateral meetings on the sidelines of last week’s UN General Assembly in New York. “Enlargement is an important priority for the president of the European Council,” one EU official told Politico, calling it the bloc’s “most important geopolitical investment.”

Meanwhile, EU Enlargement Commissioner Marta Kos is visiting Ukraine today as the country completes the screening of its legislation. “All clusters have been screened, in record time. Ukraine has delivered. Ukraine is ready for the next step,” Kos told Politico’s Brussels Playbook. She stressed that both Ukraine and the EU “cannot afford” for reform momentum to slow.

Ukraine’s Deputy Prime Minister for European and Euro-Atlantic Integration, Taras Kachka, has confirmed that with the screening now concluded, Kyiv and Brussels will begin forming negotiating positions for formal accession talks.

Read more at Ukrainska Pravda.