Moldova Could Close 25 EU Negotiation Chapters in 2027, Ukraine Seven
European Commission roadmaps say Moldova could provisionally close 25 EU negotiating chapters in 2027, while Ukraine could close seven. Progress depends on…
The European Commission’s roadmaps say Moldova could provisionally close 25 negotiating chapters in 2027, while Ukraine could close seven. The plans mark a widening gap between the two EU candidates, whose accession processes have largely advanced together.
The proposed milestones are conditional, not a membership timetable. Both countries must carry out reforms, and EU member states must approve the next steps.
Moldova’s roadmap sets out nine chapters for provisional closure in the first half of 2027 and another 16 in the second half. Ukraine’s plan identifies seven chapters that could be closed during the year.
Why could Moldova close 25 chapters?
The European Commission says Moldova is well advanced in preparing to meet interim rule-of-law benchmarks. Its roadmap envisages Brussels presenting an assessment and draft common position to the Council, where member states can consider how negotiations proceed.
Ukraine still needs to speed up reforms to reach that stage. “The focus should now be on meeting the interim benchmarks under the rule of law,” the Commission said.
The Commission also called for progress on democratic institutions, public administration and Ukraine’s national-minorities action plan. It said Ukraine’s anti-corruption framework remained effective and that specialized institutions generally continued to operate independently despite Russia’s ongoing war.
The difference affects the pace at which each country can move through accession negotiations. Moldova’s roadmap maps out a larger set of chapters for provisional closure next year, while Ukraine’s progress depends on meeting benchmarks that would open the way to closing individual chapters.
Ukraine’s proposed timeline
Ukraine’s roadmap envisages meeting the necessary rule-of-law benchmarks in the first half of 2027. It then identifies education and culture for provisional closure in that half, with the other six chapters scheduled for the second half.
Those six cover intellectual property; social policy and employment; enterprise and industrial policy; science and research; external relations; and foreign, security and defense policy.
The Commission says the roadmap can change as reforms advance. That leaves room for Ukraine to move faster if it meets the requirements earlier than planned.
Both countries have opened four of the six broad policy clusters that organize accession talks. Their latest advance came on Oct. 13, when they opened negotiations on the internal market and competitiveness and inclusive growth, covering 17 chapters. The EU also set benchmarks for provisional closure.
For Ukraine, that step followed education amendments expanding rights for national minorities whose languages are official EU languages. Hungary then dropped objections to the two clusters. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky and Hungarian Prime Minister Péter Magyar met in Brussels on Oct. 16 and agreed to rebuild political and economic relations.
But a further procedural step remains contested. Hungary refused to approve screening results for Ukraine’s remaining clusters on Oct. 20. Those clusters cover the green agenda and sustainable connectivity, as well as resources, agriculture and cohesion.
The roadmaps set out conditional negotiating targets, not guaranteed outcomes. For Moldova, the proposed total for provisional chapter closures in 2027 is 25.
