The EU is launching a frontloading process. This will enable Ukraine to prepare for the opening of negotiating clusters even before the Hungarian veto is lifted. Within this framework, the European Union and Ukraine have agreed ten priority conditions to be fulfilled over the course of a year under Cluster 1 ‘Fundamentals’, in addition to other obligations. Meeting these conditions will confirm Ukraine’s readiness for accession.
It is important to note that all the requirements of the EU priority plan are aligned with the recommendations of the Shadow Report prepared by a coalition of civil society organisations led by the Agency for Legislative Initiatives (ALI).
Specifically, ALI has repeatedly emphasised the need to revise the highly politicised procedure for appointing and dismissing the Prosecutor General, to reinstate competitive selection procedures in the prosecution service at all levels (suspended for the duration of martial law in July 2025), to reform the State Bureau of Investigation and to address related issues.
Another priority area, alongside anti-corruption policy and law enforcement reform, is, as ever, judicial reform. Specifically, the EU requires Ukraine to:
- appoint without delay the judges of the Constitutional Court and the members of the High Council of Justice who have passed international vetting;
- reinstate international experts on the selection panel of the High Qualification Commission of Judges (HQCJ);
- adopt the draft law on judges’ integrity declarations.
It should be added that most of these conditions are already provided for in the Rule of Law Roadmap approved by the Government in May 2025. Taken together, the Roadmap and the EU’s frontloading process set the priority directions of travel, while the ALI and its partners indicate how exactly these requirements should be implemented.
