The Commission is preparing road maps for the most advanced candidates, with accession remaining conditional on reforms and EU values

The European Commission will soon propose roadmaps for the candidate countries that are most advanced in the accession process, President Ursula von der Leyen announced in her State of the Union address in Strasbourg. She reaffirmed the European perspective of Ukraine, the Republic of Moldova and the Western Balkans, without naming the beneficiaries of the measure. Accession will remain based on each country’s merits, and the announcement does not set dates for entry into the EU.

In brief

The Commission will soon propose roadmaps for the most advanced candidates. The speech does not name the countries that will receive these documents and does not detail the new stages or obligations.

Montenegro has 18 provisionally closed chapters out of 33, while Albania has provisionally closed the first three. These results describe the progress of the negotiations, without confirming the beneficiaries of the new initiative.

The Republic of Moldova and Ukraine opened negotiations in the summer of 2026 for two groups of chapters. Opening them allows the obligations to be negotiated; fulfilment of the closing conditions is verified separately.

Von der Leyen maintains that respect for EU values is a non-negotiable condition. The promised roadmaps do not set accession dates and do not represent decisions to admit countries to the Union.

“Respect for our values is non-negotiable,” von der Leyen stated. At the same time, she rejected the glorification of war criminals as incompatible with membership of the Union. The values condition already has concrete content in the accession criteria, which require stable institutions guaranteeing democracy, the rule of law, human rights and the protection of minorities.The accession criteria, which require stable institutions guaranteeing democracy, the rule of law, human rights and the protection of minorities.

In the existing process, the Commission verifies the candidates’ readiness to apply European legislation and recommends the conditions to be fulfilled. The Member States negotiate with each country on the basis of a common EU position. A chapter can be closed only when all governments are satisfied with the progress observed.

There are already national documents bearing this name. In its November 2025 assessment, the Commission noted that Ukraine and the Republic of Moldova had adopted roadmaps on the rule of law, public administration and the functioning of democratic institutions, which it had assessed positively. The announcement in SOTEU does not specify how the new documents will relate to these or what additional obligations, stages or deadlines they will introduce.

The stage of negotiations differs substantially between candidates. Montenegro has all 33 chapters open and 18 provisionally closed. In April 2026, a Council working group was also created, tasked with preparing its accession treaty.

Albania provisionally closed the first three chapters in July, after fulfilling in May the interim benchmarks for the group of chapters concerning the fundamentals. These criteria cover, among other things, the rule of law and democratic institutions. Their fulfilment allowed the process to move to the closure of certain chapters, showing how progress on fundamental reforms conditions the advancement of negotiations in other areas. Agreements on chapters remain provisional until an agreement on the entire process is concluded.

For Ukraine and the Republic of Moldova, the conferences in June 2026 opened negotiations on the fundamentals, while those in July opened the group concerning external relations. This includes external relations and foreign, security and defence policy. The EU also set the conditions for the provisional closure of the two chapters.

The admission decision depends on more actors than the Commission. The accession treaty requires the approval of the European Parliament and the unanimous agreement of the Council, followed by signature and ratification by all Member States and the candidate country. The accession date is set in the treaty.

The list of initiatives presented by the Commission after SOTEU reiterates the promise of the roadmaps without detailing the mechanism. The countries concerned, the reforms and stages they will cover, as well as any deadlines, remain to be specified. The speech offers only the indication that the proposals will come soon.

https://2eu.brussels/ro/news/comisia-pregateste-foi-de-parcurs-pentru-candidatii-cei-mai-avansati-cu-aderarea-conditionata-in-continuare-de-reforme-si-de-valorile-ue