EU agrees to launch membership talks with Ukraine next week even as war
with Russia drags on
[June 13, 2026]
By LORNE COOK
BRUSSELS (AP) — European Union nations agreed on Friday to open
membership talks with Ukraine next week, officially launching the
process for the war-torn country to eventually join the world’s biggest
trading bloc.
At a meeting in Brussels, ambassadors from the 27 EU nations decided to
officially open negotiations with Ukraine as well as with Moldova, which
Russia has also tried to drag back into its orbit, on Monday in
Luxembourg.
Ukraine sees EU membership as an important “security guarantee” for a
stable future once war with Russia ends.
Its best guarantee would be NATO membership, but the Trump
administration insists that cannot happen. Others oppose it joining
while fighting continues. Russia is strongly against it, and has cited
moves toward NATO membership as a reason for launching its full-scale
invasion in 2022, though it has not objected to EU membership for Kyiv.
Countries hoping to join the EU must complete negotiations in 35 policy
areas, or chapters, ranging from agriculture to trade, a process which
can take years.
An intergovernmental conference will be held on Monday to open key
chapters – grouped together as “clusters” – concerning the values and
principles on which the bloc was founded.
“This is a recognition of the determination, courage and hard work shown
by both countries in advancing reforms, even in the face of immense
challenges,” EU Council President António Costa and Commission President
Ursula von der Leyen said in a statement.
They described the move as “a strategic choice” that strengthens “peace,
security and prosperity across our continent.” It’s also a “signal that
the EU’s offer of peace, stability and opportunity is unmatchable,” they
said.
Ukraine officially applied for EU accession less than a week after
Russia invaded in February 2022. The EU commission has praised the
country for reforms it has been able to push through in wartime,
although deep concerns about corruption and justice standards remain.
[to top of second column]
|
Estonia's Prime Minister Kristen Michal, left, and Ukraine's
President Volodymyr Zelenskyy attend a Nordic and Baltic countries
meeting in Tallinn, Estonia, Tuesday, June 9, 2026. (AP Photo/Sergei
Grits)
Last month, German Chancellor Friedrich Merz urged his EU partners
to consider offering “associate membership” to Ukraine and breathe
new life into talks aimed at ending more than four years of war with
Russia.
Other countries – France and the Netherlands among them – have
suggested work arounds to bring Ukraine into the fold more quickly
but without the rights of full membership.
It all comes as the EU weighs whether to try to launch its own
negotiations with Russian President Vladimir Putin, with U.S.
mediated talks bogged down while America’s attention focuses on the
Iran war.
Under Merz’s proposals, Ukraine would take part in EU meetings, but
without voting rights, and would also have non-voting “associate
members” of the bloc’s powerful executive branch, the European
Commission, and the European Parliament.
All 27 EU members must agree before each policy chapter can be
opened, and then again for it to be closed. Hungary, notably, has
blocked the opening of negotiations, but the arrival of a new
government in Budapest has softened that stance.
All contents © copyright 2026 Associated Press. All rights reserved |
