In the annual enlargement report presented on November 4, Ukraine remains in the leading group of ten candidates alongside Montenegro, Albania and Moldova, and the European Commission (EC) avoided giving a timeline.

Under pressure from member states, which did not want to tie their hands with an accession calendar, the European executive scaled back its ambitions and presented only “indicative” roadmaps for the four countries closest to the European Union (EU). Enlargement Commissioner Marta Kos had announced in September that new dates would accompany the report, and resistance from capitals meant that did not happen. Ireland, which leads the negotiations on behalf of the EU, aims to close all chapters with Montenegro by December 15.