Lithuania opposes the separate accession of Ukraine and Moldova to the EU
Lithuanian President Gitanas Nausėda stated that he opposes the separation of Ukraine and Moldova on their path to joining the European Union.
He made this statement ahead of the informal EU summit in Cyprus, according to European Truth.
Nausėda advocates opening negotiation clusters regarding Ukraine and Moldova’s accession to the EU.
"I believe there is no longer any reason to talk about 'decoupling' these two countries. Lithuania will always support a merit-based approach," he emphasized.
The first negotiation cluster, “Fundamentals,” could be officially opened as early as June 2026 during Cyprus’s presidency of the EU Council. This was announced by European Commissioner for Enlargement Marta Kos at the Ukraine-EU Business Summit in Brussels.
Ukraine hopes that the European Union will open all six negotiation clusters regarding the country’s accession this year and also anticipates the possibility of closing at least one of them by the end of the year.
Ukraine may temporarily forgo some of the benefits of EU membership to accelerate the accession process. Taras Kachka noted that such a step would help Ukraine integrate into the EU more quickly.
