Ukraine’s accession: country moves forward on key reforms but steady progress needed in fight against corruption

Amid the challenges caused by Russia’s war of aggression, Ukraine has demonstrated its strong commitment to its EU path, moving forward on key reforms, while further and steady progress is needed in the fight against corruption, the European Commission said today with the adoption of its annual Enlargement Package.

The package says Ukraine has successfully completed the screening process and advanced on key reforms and adopted roadmaps on the rule of law, public administration, and the functioning of democratic institutions, and an action plan on national minorities, which the Commission assessed positively.

The Ukraine Plan has been central in steering reforms and promoting alignment with the EU acquis, showing the resilience of conditionality under exceptional circumstances, the Commission said.

Steps already taken (from reinforcing anti-corruption measures to improving public administration) are laying the foundations for recovery and opening space for greater private sector involvement. Sustaining this momentum and preventing any risk of backsliding, in particular on anti-corruption, will be essential, the European Commission says.

Significant progress was also made on gradual integration into the EU Single Market, already bringing Ukraine closer to the EU. On 1 January 2026, the first internal market treatment decision for Ukraine, on ‘Roam like at home’ will enter into force.

The Commission also says Ukraine has met the conditions required to open clusters one (fundamentals), six (external relations), and two (internal market). The Commission expects Ukraine to meet the conditions to open the remaining three clusters and works to ensure that the Council is in a position to take forward the opening of all clusters before the end of the year. 

According to the package, the Ukrainian government has signalled its objective to provisionally close accession negotiations by the end of 2028. The Commission is committed to support this ambitious objective but considers that, to meet it an acceleration of the pace of reforms is required, notably with regards to the fundamentals, in particular rule of law.

Find out more

Press release

Ukraine Report 2025

The EU and Ukraine Factsheet

2025 Enlargement Package

2025 Communication on EU Enlargement Policy

EU accession process step by step

EU Enlargement page in English and Ukrainian