European Commission insists that it will open all clusters of accession talks with Ukraine in 2025

The European Commission is working to open all negotiation clusters during Ukraine's EU accession talks in 2025.

European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen said at a plenary session of the European Parliament in Strasbourg that the European Commission is working to open negotiation clusters with Ukraine and hopes that all clusters will be open in 2025.

"We are working hard with Ukraine to open the first cluster of accession talks and to open all clusters in 2025," she said. 

Von der Leyen added that "peace and European integration have always gone hand-in-hand" in the history of Europe. 

"Let’s bring Ukraine inside our Union. Let’s walk the path of peace together. Slava Ukraini, long live Europe!" she stated.

Earlier, von der Leyen also stated that she considers Ukraine's membership in the EU to be the strongest security guarantee.

The Ukrainian leadership and the European Commission had ambitious plans for the pace of negotiations on accession in 2025, but Hungary's veto blocked them.

Budapest organised a consultative poll on Ukraine's accession to the EU – Hungarian PM Viktor Orbán has already publicly voted against it.