Ukraine has received a positive assessment of progress on its path to EU accession, — European Commission report

Ukraine has received a positive assessment of progress on its path to EU accession, — European Commission report

Ukraine, along with Moldova, Albania, and Montenegro, has received a positive assessment of progress on the path to membership in the European Union.

This was reported by Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty’s Europe editor Rikard Jozwiak, as mentioned in the European Commission’s annual report on EU enlargement, which is set to be published on November 4.

The report tracks political developments in 10 countries aspiring to join the bloc – Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Georgia, Kosovo, Moldova, Montenegro, North Macedonia, Serbia, Turkey, and Ukraine.

The document states that the enlargement process «is now moving faster than it has in the last 15 years». It also adds that there is a «realistic possibility» that new countries could join the club by the end of the current European Commission mandate, which lasts until 2029. The last country to join the EU was Croatia in 2013.

The document does not directly indicate which countries are closest to accession. However, it notes that Montenegro aims to complete accession negotiations by 2026, and Albania a year later. Montenegro has started negotiations on all 33 chapters that EU candidate countries must complete before joining the bloc and has closed seven of them. Albania has opened 28 chapters in just over a year, though it has not yet closed any.

The report highlights that Albania, Montenegro, Moldova, and Ukraine have made progress on fundamental issues of the rule of law, and these countries are gaining experience in combating corruption.

However, Ukraine is warned of the danger of a new attempt to interfere with the work of anti-corruption bodies NABU and SAPO, as was already observed in the summer of 2025, before the authorities backed down amid protests within the country and in Brussels. The document states that «any actions that weaken or reverse decisive anti-corruption reforms should be avoided».

While the European Commission is responsible for assessing reforms in candidate countries, it is the 27 EU member states that unanimously decide on the opening and closing of negotiations, which complicates any predictions regarding membership.

This is particularly relevant for Ukraine and Moldova, which received the green light to officially start accession negotiations in December 2023 but have not yet opened them, as Hungary continues to block Ukraine’s progress due to what Budapest considers a violation of the rights of the Hungarian-speaking minority.

The lowest assessments are given to Georgia, which, like Moldova and Ukraine, applied for membership in 2022 and received candidate status a year later.

The text notes that «Georgia has experienced a serious democratic backslide, with a rapid erosion of the rule of law and severe restrictions on fundamental rights». According to the European Commission, institutions meant to uphold the rule of law in Georgia have been used for partisan purposes.

This is the first report on the state of affairs in candidate countries for EU membership published by the new European Commission, which began its work at the end of 2024.