Enlargement dominated the start of Ireland's six-month presidency of the EU Council, with President Volodymyr Zelenskyy declaring that Ukraine has done "everything" needed to open all the clusters of negotiations.
"It's in the interest of all the countries to have Ukraine in the EU as quickly as possible," Zelenskyy said on Wednesday at Dublin Castle, where the inaugural ceremony took place.
Ukraine has so far opened just one cluster, titled "Fundamentals", and is keen to unblock the remaining five before the summer break.
But the ambitious timeline has been called into serious question after Hungary's new prime minister, Péter Magyar, voiced fresh concerns about Kyiv's accession process and tempered expectationsof a broader, faster breakthrough.
At the same time, Zelenskyy's decision to name a military unit after the Ukrainian Insurgent Army (UPA) has sharply deteriorated relations with Poland. A recent poll found that 60% of Polish citizens oppose Ukraine's entry into the bloc.
