133 laws, two empty court seats, and a 2028 deadline that runs through parliament

On Wednesday the European Commission published its annual verdict on the countries queuing to join the EU, and for Ukraine the headline is encouraging. Kyiv opened four clusters of negotiating chapters over the past year, and the Commission says it has met the conditions to open all the remaining ones¹. Brussels backs Ukraine’s “ambitious objective” of closing accession talks by the end of 2028, provided it “continues to accelerate the pace of reforms”¹.

The condition is the story. Ukraine’s parliament passed 133 laws between September 2025 and September 2026, more slowly than the year before, and the Commission calls the slowdown in legislative decision-making “a point of concern”, Euromaidan Press reports from the 119-page report². A 2026–2030 anti-corruption strategy still awaits adoption². The terms of two members of the High Council of Justice, which governs Ukraine’s judges, expired in August; two Constitutional Court seats that parliament must fill have been empty since October 2025². And “no laws were adopted to significantly advance the anti-corruption legal framework”, the report says².

The institutions, by contrast, get credit. The Commission says Ukraine’s specialised anti-corruption bodies continue to operate “overall independently and effectively”¹, and the report notes they brought more high-level cases to investigation, trial and conviction, reaching top officials and judges². Ukraine has a good level of preparation in energy and in foreign, security and defence policy². So the machinery works; the rulebook it enforces is stuck.

It matters for money as well as membership. Ukraine depends on foreign funds to pay salaries, pensions and repairs, and EU programmes such as the Ukraine Facility pay out in step with reforms². In October lawmakers passed a tax on cheap foreign parcels only at the third attempt, to unlock a €3.7 billion EU payment².

For you, the useful habit is to watch votes, not podiums. Enlargement Commissioner Marta Kos says Albania, Moldova and Ukraine “could join the European Union in the coming years if they sustain the reform efforts”¹. The “if” sits in Kyiv’s committee rooms. It is now for EU governments to consider the recommendations¹.