Ukraine has set a first-half 2027 goal to meet the rule-of-law benchmarks and secure a positive interim assessment. The Commission says completing the benchmarks is necessary before talks can move to a phase where chapters may be provisionally closed.
European Commissioner for Enlargement Marta Kos and Ukrainian Prime Minister Sergii Koretskyi co-chaired an accession task-force meeting in Brussels on Sunday, Nov. 15. Verkhovna Rada Speaker Ruslan Stefanchuk also attended, alongside representatives from government, parliament, the President’s Office, law enforcement and independent judicial institutions.
The Ukrainian government said the task force had been operating for a month. Koretskyi said some measures scheduled for November were already complete: “During the first month, we have already completed some of the measures scheduled for November.”
Ukraine’s goal is to meet interim benchmarks under Cluster 1, known as “Fundamentals,” and secure a positive Interim Benchmark Assessment Report (IBAR), the government said. It gave no date for the assessment. Officials also discussed improvements to the Ukraine Plan and the financing needed to put it into practice. The Commission links Ukraine Facility assistance with accession reforms and says further efforts are needed.
The target comes amid a mixed assessment of reform progress. The Commission’s Nov. 4 Ukraine report covered Sept. 1, 2025, to Sept. 1, 2026, and said legislative decision-making had slowed during that period. It described judicial reform as moving slowly and cited delays in the Rule of Law Roadmap. The Commission also found that Ukraine had yet to complete most of the 10 reform priorities agreed with Ukrainian authorities on Dec. 10, 2025. It credited continued work by specialized anti-corruption institutions, but said broader changes to laws and institutions had advanced little and remained a concern.
The Commission’s indicative 2027 roadmap lists possible provisional closure of the education and culture chapter in the first half of the year, followed by six other chapters in the second half. The schedule depends on Ukraine’s reform pace and does not set a membership date. The roadmap also identifies potential gains from gradual integration, including lower compliance costs and stronger ties between Ukrainian industry, EU value chains and financial systems. The positive IBAR targeted for the first half of 2027 is the next stated milestone.
