After two years of political trench warfare, the European Union’s enlargement project has found its rhythm again. Ukraine and Moldova are moving through the accession machinery at a pace that felt unimaginable while a single capital held the process hostage.

The breakthrough came in June, when Ukraine opened its first negotiating cluster, the bundle of chapters known as the fundamentals that covers courts, corruption and democratic checks. Kyiv followed that in July by opening Cluster 6 on external relations, another concrete step rather than a symbolic gesture.

Momentum built quickly from there. In mid-July, negotiators gathered in Brussels for four intergovernmental conferences covering Ukraine, Moldova, Montenegro and Albania on the same day, a clustering of talks that officials described as a landmark for the bloc’s widening ambitions.

The shift owes much to a change of government in Budapest. For two years, Hungary under Viktor Orban blocked Ukraine’s path at almost every turn, freezing decisions that require unanimity among member states. With a new administration in place, that veto has lifted, and the accession calendar has sprung back to life.

The Commission is now backing a target that once sounded reckless: wrapping up negotiations with Kyiv and Chisinau by 2028. Officials caution that closing chapters is not the same as opening them, and that the hardest reforms lie ahead. Even so, the direction of travel is unmistakable.

The bloc currently counts nine candidate countries, and four of them, Albania, Moldova, Montenegro and Ukraine, could plausibly join before the end of the decade. That would mark the largest expansion since the eastern enlargement of the 2000s, and it would reshape the Union’s budget, its voting maths and its borders.

The European Parliament has offered cautious praise, singling out Kyiv’s work to strengthen democratic institutions and defend the separation of powers even under the strain of war. Lawmakers highlighted judicial reform and the fight against corruption as the areas where progress has been most visible.

Money is the sharpest complication. Absorbing Ukraine alone would strain the EU’s farm and cohesion budgets, since its vast agricultural sector and war-battered regions would qualify for large transfers. Diplomats have already begun sketching transition periods and phased payments to soften the shock for current members.

None of this guarantees a smooth ride. Enlargement has stalled before, and public opinion in several existing member states remains wary of taking on new partners. But for the first time in years, the question in Brussels is less whether these countries will join and more how quickly the Union can prepare itself to receive them.