European Council President António Costa is stepping up efforts to break the deadlock over Ukraine’s bid to join the EU — despite resistance from Budapest. According to five diplomats and officials who spoke to POLITICO on condition of anonymity, Costa is sounding out the positions of EU capitals and promoting the idea of simplifying enlargement mechanisms to get around the prolonged blockade surrounding Ukraine and Moldova.
What António Costa proposes
The essence of the initiative is to change the stage at which unanimity is required. At present, all 27 EU countries must unanimously approve each phase of accession talks. Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán has used that rule to repeatedly veto and slow Kyiv’s path into the Union.
Under Costa’s plan, the opening of so-called “negotiating clusters” — major blocks of EU law that every candidate country must work through — could be approved by a qualified majority rather than unanimously. Closing clusters, i.e., recognizing that criteria have been met, would still require unanimity. This arrangement would allow Ukraine and Moldova to begin and show reforms in specific areas even if one or two capitals object. A person familiar with the plan told POLITICO about these details.
Why this matters for Moldova
Moldova is tied to Kyiv in a shared enlargement trajectory: the two candidates are moving as a “package.” As long as the impasse on Ukraine persists, Chișinău cannot advance either. Switching to qualified majority for opening clusters would unblock the starting phase for both countries at once.
A diplomatic “tour of capitals”
According to POLITICO, Costa is personally lobbying the idea: he has carried out a series of trips across European capitals and discussed the issue on the sidelines of the UN General Assembly in New York last week. The goal is to gather critical mass ahead of the key summit in Copenhagen.
“Enlargement is the top priority for the president of the European Council,” POLITICO quotes one European official as saying. “He sees it as the EU’s most important geopolitical investment. That’s why he believes it’s necessary to keep looking for ways to translate Ukraine’s reform efforts into tangible steps.”
“Ukraine is ready for the next step”
In parallel, Kyiv is completing the technical screening — the final review of legislation before deepening talks. On Monday, EU Enlargement Commissioner Marta Kos will travel to Ukraine to close out the screening procedure.
“All clusters have been screened, in record time. Ukraine has delivered. Ukraine is ready for the next step. It’s now up to the member states to give the green light,” Marta Kos told POLITICO’s Brussels Playbook. “Neither Ukraine nor Europe can afford a slowdown in the pace of reforms in Ukraine. This is the moment to accelerate.”
What the Copenhagen summit could decide
Costa’s proposal is not a final treaty reform but a political-procedural move: to shift the unanimity requirement from the “start” to the “finish” of each negotiating block. If leaders agree, Ukraine and Moldova could begin talks in several areas right away, logging reform progress, while the decisive “locks” would still rest with all 27 capitals.
According to POLITICO, the plan’s success will depend on whether Costa can convince a majority that this approach does not undermine the veto at critical stages, but merely removes the possibility of indefinitely postponing the start of work.
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