Further EU accession talks with Ukraine delayed until autumn

Following the planned opening of the sixth negotiation cluster for Ukraine in its European Union accession talks on July 14, discussions on additional clusters will be postponed until the autumn, Lithuanian Foreign Minister Kęstutis Budrys has stated.

Speaking on the sidelines of the EU Foreign Affairs Council meeting in Brussels on July 13, Budrys said they believe this delay, again and again, is highly counterproductive because it postpones and slows down the negotiations, Caliber.Az reports, citing Ukrainian media.

"There were no objective obstacles to opening all clusters in July. But tomorrow we will open only the second and sixth clusters, while all the others will be postponed until autumn," Budrys noted.

The European Union, earlier, unanimously agreed to open the sixth cluster.

The move builds on momentum generated by Hungary's recent change of government, which ended nearly two years of opposition to Ukraine's accession process.

Prime Minister Péter Magyar lifted Budapest's veto in early June, allowing the EU to open cluster one, known as Fundamentals.

By Bakhtiyar Abbasov