The EU Council's Working Party on Enlargement is scheduled to meet on 9 July 2026 at 10:00 in Brussels to exchange views on draft EU Common Positions for four candidate countries: Ukraine, Moldova, Albania, and Montenegro. The meeting, announced in a notice of meeting and provisional agenda published on 8 July 2026, will cover clusters and chapters related to external relations, science, education, competition, customs, and transport policy.
For Ukraine and Moldova, the working party will discuss draft EU Common Positions for cluster 6 (External relations). Albania's agenda includes chapters 25 (Science and research), 26 (Education and culture), and 30 (External relations). Montenegro will see discussions on chapters 8 (Competition policy), 29 (Customs Union), and 14 (Transport policy). The meeting also includes an "Any other business" item.
This meeting advances the accession negotiations by preparing common positions that will later be adopted by the Council. The discussions reflect the EU's continued engagement with enlargement countries, following the opening of accession negotiations with Ukraine and Moldova in 2024 and the ongoing negotiations with Albania and Montenegro. The working party's role is to coordinate member states' positions before formal adoption.
EU member states, whose representatives will negotiate the common positions; the candidate countries, which will need to align with EU standards in the discussed chapters; EU institutions, particularly the European Commission, which provides technical support; and businesses and citizens in the candidate countries, who will be affected by future regulatory alignment in areas like competition policy and customs.