What Does Opening the First EU Cluster Mean?

After Ukraine opened its first negotiating cluster, “Fundamentals,” further progress toward the EU now depends on how well it carries out reforms in the rule of law, the fight against corruption, public administration, and democratic governance.

What these reforms will mean for Ukrainians, how the EU will judge Ukraine’s progress, and how the country can move past the crisis triggered by the authorities’ attempt to undermine NABU and SAPO’s independence — Andrii Borovyk, Executive Director of Transparency International Ukraine, discussed these questions with Raion.Zakordon. 

Fundamentals cluster: the main test on the road to the EU

Accession talks for every candidate country rest on 35 negotiating chapters. Thirty-three of them are grouped into six thematic clusters, while the other two are handled separately.

Andrii Borovyk calls “Fundamentals” the heart of the whole enlargement methodology, since it embodies the EU’s core values. It opens first and closes last, and without progress here, movement on other fronts can stall.

“When we talk about this cluster, the conversation centers on the rule of law and building a state governed by law, but it also has quite specific parts — the negotiating chapters where we need to keep showing progress. Of course, only if we want to,” the expert explains.

Each chapter has its own number and name, including:

• Chapter 23 (Judiciary and Fundamental Rights): court reform, judicial independence, and a real fight against top-level corruption.
• Chapter 24 (Justice, Freedom and Security): overhauling law enforcement, fighting organized crime, and bringing order to customs and borders.
• Chapter 5 (Public Procurement): moving all public and defense tenders onto strict European standards.
• Chapter 32 (Financial Control): protecting EU funds and auditing the budget (the work of the Accounting Chamber and the State Audit Service).
• Chapter 18 (Statistics): transparent, accurate economic and population data that meet Eurostat standards.

What benchmarks are, and how the EU will measure Ukraine’s progress

To avoid the mistakes of past enlargements, the EU has changed how it evaluates reforms. Andrii Borovyk recalls that several countries saw scandals over the rule of law or corruption after joining. In Romania, for example, specialized anti-corruption bodies were set up and went after a “big fish” — a former prime minister. Later, the authorities cut back these bodies’ independence, and people took to the streets. 

That’s why the EU adopted a new enlargement methodology. As a result, the Fundamentals cluster includes strict requirements on the rule of law and anti-corruption efforts, and these will be watched especially closely.

Progress will be measured through “benchmarks” — conditions Ukraine must meet. They come in two types: interim benchmarks, which apply only to the two most important chapters of the first cluster — 23, Judiciary and Fundamental Rights, and 24, Justice, Freedom and Security — and closing benchmarks for each chapter.

The European Commission will prepare intergovernmental reports assessing how well these conditions are met.

“There will be constant monitoring, and essentially any change in legislation, any event in Ukraine that touches these areas, will be under very close watch,” Andrii Borovyk stresses.

Passing laws is only the first step. What follows is tracking how they’re implemented and enforced.

“We may see in EU reports that Ukraine has made solid progress fighting corruption, backed by indicators such as the number of cases and court verdicts. The same goes for recovering criminal assets. The EU will ask: ‘You passed the legislation? Well done! Now show us how you’re applying it.’ So we’ll need to show how much was recovered in specific cases. It’s a massive, complex process, and without constant communication between all branches of government, making progress will be very, very hard,” the expert adds.

Each year, the European Commission also publishes an Enlargement Report on every candidate country, including Ukraine, scoring each negotiating chapter. Converted into numbers, the scale runs from 1 (no progress) to 5 (full alignment with EU standards). 

“According to last year’s Enlargement Report, Ukraine’s average score now stands at 2.4. But these results may not tell the whole story, since something is always improving somewhere while something else is slipping,” the Executive Director says.

Among the recent improvements, he points to the comprehensive public procurement law that the Verkhovna Rada passed in late May. Ukraine’s President signed it on June 24.

Ukraine is still waiting for the European Commission’s final assessment of this law, but Andrii Borovyk believes it clearly brings the country closer to EU standards, marking “moderate, maybe even good, progress” in this area.

In the anti-corruption field, the top priority is preserving anti-corruption institutions and expanding their powers. For instance, anti-corruption bodies need the ability to investigate cases involving members of parliament without waiting for the Prosecutor General’s permission. They should also gain access to independent, professional expertise.

Ukraine must also keep delivering strong results on corruption cases. Andrii Borovyk notes that this area is in better shape, since the number of verdicts and cases handled by the High Anti-Corruption Court keeps growing each year.

Why Ukraine’s EU integration has slowed down

Andrii Borovyk names several reasons the reform process has slowed over the past 12 months:

• Waning US attention to reforms after the presidential election, given its role as a key partner for Ukraine;
• The law the Verkhovna Rada passed in July 2025, which curbed the independence of the NABU and the SAPO;
• “Fatigue” among lawmakers.

“We keep hearing that a few dozen, maybe close to a hundred, MPs want out. I think all branches of government need an honest conversation to find common ground. Civil society is always ready to help, and it already does — its representatives step in as technical experts drafting documents or preparing independent assessments of the process itself,” the expert says. 

Beyond winning the war, he adds, Ukraine needs a second political goal to rally around: EU membership. 

“Ambitions need to wait, and everyone should work toward this goal, moving as one group. It sounds philosophical, but you can’t wave a magic wand like in Harry Potter to get this done. It’s all hard work,” Borovyk adds.

In the expert’s view, civil society’s attention may be the best defense against political pressure. During wartime, when elections are impossible and political accountability is hard to enforce, he urges Ukrainians not to lose their political memory.

“Unfortunately, our political memory isn’t always strong, so ‘old politicians’ often end up back in power anyway. But last July, when parliament passed something we — and the EU — completely disagreed with, we showed we could respond with peaceful protest. I wouldn’t want that to become routine, and I really hope parliament and the president don’t repeat such strange moves.”

Ukraine is the first country in the world fighting for survival while pursuing two paths at once — defending its independence and nationhood on the front line, and integrating into the EU.

“I don’t know of any other country that’s done this. I don’t know of any country that tried to carry out reforms during a war. We’re not always happy with them, and there have been far fewer over the past 12 months than at the start, but this is very hard, and without it, joining the EU will be difficult,” Borovyk concludes.

What reforms will actually mean for Ukrainians

The reforms Ukraine must carry out to join the EU directly affect every Ukrainian’s life. Meeting all the required criteria, Andrii Borovyk believes, will improve the justice system, the work of state bodies, and public administration overall.

“How will it affect people’s lives to have professional, honest courts with strong technical capacity? When you go to court without thinking, ‘Why bother, it’s all bought and paid for’ — that’s already a major impact,” the expert reflects.

The goal of these reforms is to build a regulated legal environment — for running a business, say, or protecting conservation areas from illegal construction.

“As a result, whatever field a Ukrainian works in will better align with the rule of law. People will know how to act and what to expect if a ruling turns out unfair — and that will still happen sometimes, since not every EU member state is perfect either. What matters is that everyone can expect a fair ruling in a dispute,” Andrii Borovyk adds. 

The next step in the negotiation process is the final approval of benchmarks for the first cluster. Ideally, negotiations on the remaining five clusters would open as soon as possible after that.

Then comes the long work of carrying out reforms, where Ukraine must not just change laws but prove they work.

Transparency International Ukraine, together with colleagues from other organizations, tracks this process by publishing annual “shadow reports” assessing Ukraine’s progress against its commitments. These reports cover the state of anti-corruption efforts, the rule of law, justice, and public procurement.

“These documents aren’t meant to criticize the authorities — they’re meant to show where we currently stand and which direction we should be heading on the path to EU integration. The reports don’t represent the European Commission’s position, though in our case, it helps fund and support their preparation. Some candidate countries don’t have anything like this, but how could Ukraine not have shadow reports, given how enormous and relentless civil society and journalist activity here is? We’re constantly held up as an example in many other countries,” Andrii Borovyk explains.

This publication has been produced with financial support from Norway. The contents of this publication are the sole responsibility of Transparency International Ukraine and can in no way be taken to reflect the views of the Government of Norway.