Ukraine opens 6th EU accession talks cluster
Photo: European Council President António Costa, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, and European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen (Getty Images)
Ukraine and the European Union have officially opened negotiations on Cluster 6, External Relations, according to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Ukraine.
What Sybiha says about section 31
Sybiha explains which specific area of the negotiations falls under his Ministry’s purview.
"One of the two chapters within Cluster 6, Chapter 31, falls under the reform responsibility of the MFA of Ukraine. 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. This excellent result gives hope for a speedy progress," Sybiha says.
Section 31 concerns foreign policy, security, and defense. It is in this area that Ukraine has aligned its position with the statements and decisions of the European Union.
Cluster 6 officially opened
On July 14, the third Ukraine-EU Intergovernmental Conference took place in Brussels, during which Cluster 6, External Relations, the last of the six negotiation clusters on Ukraine’s path to EU membership, was formally opened.
The cluster covers several areas at once:
- Foreign policy
- Security and defense
- Trade
- Humanitarian aid and development cooperation.
Ukraine's EU accession
On July 10, EU ambassadors supported the opening of Cluster 6 of Ukraine’s accession negotiations, the country’s second cluster after the key Fundamentals cluster.
Earlier, Estonian Prime Minister Kristen Michal called on the EU to immediately open all negotiation clusters.
