EU opens internal market and competitiveness talks with Ukraine and Moldova

The Council of the EU opened accession negotiations with Ukraine on two further clusters on 13 October, covering the internal market and competitiveness and inclusive growth, according to a Council press release. The step was taken at the fourth accession conference with Ukraine, the Council's Ukraine page shows.

The EU started negotiations with Moldova on the same two clusters on the same day, the Council said in a separate release. For each country the two clusters comprise 17 chapters, nine on the internal market and eight on competitiveness and inclusive growth, out of 33 chapters across six clusters in the accession framework.

What the two clusters contain

The internal market cluster (Cluster 2) covers nine chapters, according to the Council:

• free movement of goods (chapter 1), freedom of movement for workers (2) and right of establishment and freedom to provide services (3);
• free movement of capital (4), company law (6) and intellectual property law (7);
• competition policy (8), financial services (9) and consumer and health protection (28).

The competitiveness and inclusive growth cluster (Cluster 3) covers eight chapters: digital transformation and media (10), taxation (16), economic and monetary policy (17), social policy and employment (19), enterprise and industrial policy (20), science and research (25), education and culture (26) and customs union (29), the release says.

The Council said progress in aligning with and implementing the EU acquis and European standards will be monitored throughout the negotiations, and that accession is merit-based. The EU has set benchmarks for the future provisional closure of these chapters. The press release does not list them, but it links to the EU common positions for Cluster 2 and Cluster 3.

How the 2026 timetable has run

Ukraine applied for membership on 28 February 2022 and was granted candidate status on 23 June 2022. Negotiations formally opened on 25 June 2024, according to the Council's Ukraine page. The second accession conference, on 15 June 2026, opened Cluster 1, the fundamentals cluster, and the EU set interim benchmarks that must be met before negotiations on it can progress, the same page says. The third, on 14 July 2026, opened Cluster 6, which holds the chapters on external relations (30) and foreign, security and defence policy (31).

The page lists no opening yet for Cluster 4, on the green agenda and sustainable connectivity, or Cluster 5, on resources, agriculture and cohesion. Thomas Byrne, Ireland's Minister of State for European Affairs and Defence, said the 13 October decision on Ukraine marked another milestone on its path to membership and showed its determination to carry on with reforms in very difficult circumstances, according to the Council release. On Moldova, he said the Irish presidency would work to open the remaining clusters before the end of its term, the Council reported.

Reform tests that overlap with the IMF programme

Several of the newly opened fields coincide with conditions in Ukraine's IMF-supported programme. The IMF staff report for the first review of Ukraine's extended arrangement, which the Executive Board considered on 20 July, lists structural benchmarks on customs and on tax measures. They include a transfer pricing and interest limitation benchmark that staff proposed to reset to submission to parliament by the end of August 2026.

The European Council, meeting on 15 and 16 October, said in its conclusions that the accession process is merit-based, that each candidate advances on its own progress and that aspiring members must continue reforms, notably on the rule of law. It took note of the Commission's communication "Preparing for a wider Union" and asked the Council to analyse its strands. The conclusions also welcomed work on drafting the accession treaty with Montenegro and noted the Irish presidency's aim of provisionally closing the remaining chapters with that country, subject to Montenegro implementing the corresponding reforms.