As Suspilne learned from its own sources, during a dinner with European Union leaders in Cyprus, the President of Ukraine raised the issue of Ukraine's accession to the EU. Zelensky continues to insist on securing a date for accession.
This is reported by a correspondent of Suspilny.
“There is a broad consensus not to artificially speed up the process. We can propose some idea, for example, associate membership, when a representative of Ukraine would be able to be at the table during meetings and have its own European Commissioner. But Kyiv would not have the right to vote and access to funding,” the source said.
As the Financial Times reported on April 20, France and Germany have proposed giving Ukraine “symbolic” benefits during the accession process, including participation in meetings of ministers and leaders without voting rights or automatic access to EU funds.
One EU official, however, told Suspilny that yesterday at the table there was a clear need to move on to opening negotiation clusters. Several leaders (no more than 10) took the floor to outline the broader picture of the urgency of Ukraine's EU membership, although nothing specific was discussed:
“The next step will be enlargement, all conditions have been created for the opening of the first negotiating lines for accession in the coming weeks and months.”
President Zelensky, in a comment to Suspilny, expressed confidence that the clusters will still be able to be opened.
“We are discussing this issue. We deserve it, we have technically completed all the steps, all the tasks. Two problematic issues have been resolved (the loan and sanctions against the Russian Federation – ed.), the clusters remain. I am sure they will open,” the president said.
One of the EU diplomats commented on the statement of Deputy Prime Minister for European Integration Taras Kachka that Ukraine may officially open the first cluster of negotiations on EU accession on May 26 during the meeting of the EU General Affairs Council.
“Now everything depends on one person – Peter Magyar, on May 9 he will officially become the Prime Minister of Hungary, and then we will see if he keeps his word. We supported the opening of the first cluster a long time ago,” the diplomat said.
He added that there is no consensus on granting Ukraine preferences on its path to joining the EU.
“We are not against Ukraine's accelerated membership in the EU. It can join as soon as it progresses through reforms and fulfills the conditions. This is a merit-based process,” the interlocutor of Suspilny emphasized.
As a reminder, Hungary has been blocking the opening of the first “Fundamentals” cluster for over a year due to the issue of national minorities. Therefore, since December 2025, Ukraine has been conducting informal negotiations with the EU.