All 27 EU member states have agreed to open clusters 2 and 3 of accession talks for Ukraine and Moldova, after Ukraine's parliament passed a minority education law.
All 27 European Union member states have unanimously agreed to open cluster 2 (internal market) and cluster 3 (competitiveness and inclusive growth) of accession talks for Ukraine and Moldova. Irish Minister of State for European Affairs Thomas Byrne announced it on Monday, 12 October; Ireland holds the EU Council presidency. The NGO Volunteers Support Ukraine welcomes the news as an important step on the country's way to the European family.
On the same day the Verkhovna Rada passed bill No. 16119 on the educational rights of indigenous peoples and national minorities in full, with 266 votes, and the president signed it into law the same day. The law lets children from national minorities whose languages are official EU languages, as well as from indigenous peoples, study in their native language alongside Ukrainian; it does not apply to russian. The ministry estimates that about 149 schools could receive the special status. Hungary had earlier blocked these clusters, demanding exactly such changes, and Hungarian Prime Minister Péter Magyar welcomed the amendments.
Cluster 2 covers the rules on the free movement of goods, services, capital and workers, company law, competition and consumer protection. Cluster 3 covers digital transformation, taxation, economic and monetary policy, employment, industrial policy, science and research, education and culture, and customs. Cluster 1 was opened in June and cluster 6 on 14 July, so once these two are opened, clusters 4 and 5 will remain. They are due to be formally opened at an intergovernmental conference in Luxembourg on 13 October, and Kyiv aims to open all clusters by the end of the year. In the same announcement Byrne said Montenegro would close three chapters and Albania chapter 20.
For people, the European path is not only politics: it means standards, investment and long-term stability. Volunteers Support Ukraine keeps helping people touched by the war as far as our means allow.
