Irish Prime Minister Micheál Martin, whose country holds the rotating presidency of the Council of the EU, said there was goodwill in many EU countries toward opening Ukraine's last two negotiation clusters before the year is out. He spoke at a press conference with President Volodymyr Zelenskyy in Dublin on the evening of 11 November, Yevropeiska Pravda reported.

Ukraine is negotiating to join the EU while fighting off Russia's full-scale invasion. For years the main obstacle inside the bloc was Viktor Orbán, the Hungarian prime minister who said in January he expected no Hungarian parliament to vote for Ukraine's accession in the next 100 years. Orbán lost power in April, but Budapest is still holding up the talks, now at the technical level, as Ireland's presidency runs out.

Four clusters open, two to go

Ireland would have to use its powers of persuasion, Martin said, but there was a lot of goodwill in many countries. Opening every cluster, he added, would send Ukrainians a strong signal that Europe had opened the way to membership.

Clusters 4 and 5 are the last two Ukraine has yet to open, and it cannot join the EU until every cluster has been opened and closed. Cluster 4 covers transport, energy, and climate, and cluster 5 covers agriculture, regional policy, and budget rules, the Ukrainian government said in December 2025. “We must open all negotiating clusters this year,” Zelenskyy said in Dublin, the President’s Office reported. Ukraine has opened four of the six clusters. Martin said three of them were opened under Ireland’s presidency, which ends on 31 December.

Stalled since June

A day earlier, Hungary declined to approve the screening results for clusters 4 and 5, a required step before a cluster can open. The refusal came at a meeting of COELA, the Council's enlargement working group, on 10 November, Yevropeiska Pravda reported. It was not the first: Hungary also refused on 20 October and again on 27 October. In June, Budapest held up screening for clusters 2–6 in the same working group, saying its experts needed more time.

Hungary says its questions concern the content of the negotiating chapters themselves, Deputy Prime Minister for European Integration Vsevolod Chentsov said at the EU Accession Exchange Forum on 4 November. The delay is not about minority rights, and Budapest has made no new demands on them so far, Yevropeiska Pravda reported.

The thaw began earlier: Péter Magyar's government reached an agreement with Kyiv on the rights of ethnic Hungarians in Zakarpattia Oblast in early June, which cleared the way for the first cluster to open. Weeks later, Magyar argued against opening all clusters at once. In October, after Kyiv filed a bill on minority-language schooling, Hungary agreed to unblock two more, and the EU opened them on 13 October.

Moldova waits too

At the same time, the delay holds back Moldova, whose bid has been deliberately linked to Ukraine's since 2022. Both countries are technically ready to open the last two clusters, according to the European Commission, Moldovan President Maia Sandu told Hungarian outlet Válasz Online on 2 November. Holding Moldova back does not help Ukraine, she said. Sandu added that she had raised the stalled clusters with Magyar and hoped the European Council would decide on them at its last summit of the year.

Keeping Moldova out of the European Union does nothing to help Ukraine. Chisinau cannot answer for Kyiv’s internal reforms any more than Ukraine can push through changes in Moldova, Moldovan President Maia Sandu said in an interview with Válasz Online, arguing that stalling her country’s bid does nothing for its neighbor.

Moldova and Ukraine have moved toward the EU in step since 2022, with their bids deliberately linked, and Sandu has long refused to advance alone. Both states are now judged technically ready to open the last two negotiation clusters on their way to EU accession.

“By blocking Moldova, no one is helping Ukraine”

Asked about Moldova and Ukraine moving toward the EU separately, Sandu did not say outright that she wants the two accession tracks split, but stressed that she is responsible for her own country’s progress.

Moldova, she continued, wants Ukraine in the bloc, because its strategic interest is to be ringed by member states.

“We really want Ukraine to become part of the EU. Our strategic interests are to be surrounded by EU member states. We understand how hard it is for Ukraine to implement all these reforms, especially when bombs are falling on their state institutions and people,” Sandu stated.

At the same time, she said, Moldova cannot solve Ukraine’s internal problems, just as Kyiv cannot carry out reforms in Chisinau’s place.

Both ready for the last two clusters,

“I am responsible for the progress of this country. And once again: by blocking Moldova, no one is helping Ukraine,” Sandu said.

She stated that she had raised the stalled opening of negotiation clusters for both countries with Hungarian Prime Minister Péter Magyar, whose government has favored a slower pace than an all-at-once push.

Both countries are technically ready to open their last two clusters, she said, a readiness the European Commission’s assessment confirms.

She added that she hopes all EU members will back a positive decision on Ukraine and Moldova in the coming months, with the next two clusters decided at the European Council’s final meeting of the year.