EU advances accession talks as four candidate countries hold historic “Super Tuesday”
On 14 July the European Union held four intergovernmental accession conferences in Brussels for Albania, Montenegro, Moldova and Ukraine – the first time four candidate states have met EU officials on the same day since 2002. Enlargement Commissioner Marta Kos called the day a “Super Tuesday”.
Ukraine and Moldova opened a new negotiation cluster covering external relations, foreign‑security‑defence policy, trade and development assistance. Albania provisionally closed three chapters – science and research, education and culture, and external relations – marking its first chapter closures. Montenegro provisionally closed two further chapters on competition policy and customs, bringing its total to 18 of 33 chapters closed. Kosovo, Serbia, North Macedonia and other Western‑Balkan states were not part of the day’s conferences.
Kos noted that the rapid progress reflects the EU’s response to the security situation in Eastern Europe and its commitment to deepen reforms in the Western Balkans. The meetings are a key step toward full membership, though accession may still take several years for each country.