EU opens accession negotiations with Ukraine on external relations cluster

The EU and Ukraine have opened accession negotiations on the external relations cluster, known as Cluster 6. The move adds a second negotiating area in Ukraine's membership process and covers how candidate countries align their international, trade and defence policies with the EU.

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The announcement said the step came just one month after the opening of Cluster 1, Fundamentals, and two weeks into the Irish presidency. Thomas Byrne, Ireland's Minister of State with responsibility for European affairs, said the latest opening was another milestone in Ukraine's EU membership journey and a testament to the country's commitment to move forward as quickly as possible.

The EU said Cluster 6 contains two negotiating chapters and that it has already set benchmarks for their future provisional closure. It also said accession remains a merit-based process, with monitoring of progress in alignment with EU acquis and relevant European standards to continue throughout the negotiations.

The text noted that the accession framework under the revised 2020 methodology divides negotiations into six thematic clusters and 33 chapters in total.

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