Kyiv seeks to urgently open all EU accession negotiation clusters by year-end

Kyiv is striving to urgently open all negotiation clusters on EU accession before the end of this year, Politico reports. Ukrainian authorities seriously fear that by 2027 the process could completely stall due to upcoming elections in key EU countries and a general decline in European interest in Ukraine's agenda. However, according to the publication, two major barriers stand in the way of Kyiv's European integration: Ukraine has not yet fulfilled the entire package of mandatory conditions required for the official start of substantive negotiations. The biggest stumbling block remains the agricultural sector. The EU fears that an influx of cheap Ukrainian products could simply destroy local farming businesses, which are already regularly staging large-scale protests.