Hungary Blocks EU Accession Clusters for Moldova and Ukraine Again at September 1 COELA Meeting

The EU Council's Working Party on Enlargement (COELA) met on September 1 as scheduled but again failed to approve the screening results needed to open accession negotiation clusters 2 and 3 for Moldova and Ukraine, with Hungary repeating its position that it would approve only cluster 3 for Moldova alone. Ireland, holding the rotating Council presidency, led most other member states in declining to decouple Moldova's track from Ukraine's, so neither cluster opened. The next COELA meeting was set for September 2, but Ukraine and Moldova were not on that agenda, leaving Chisinau's cluster progress procedurally stalled despite the European Commission's repeated statements that Moldova is ready.