On October 13 in Luxembourg, two more negotiating clusters on Ukraine’s EU accession were opened: Internal Market and Competitiveness and Inclusive Growth. They cover areas where some of the changes will depend on local self-government: support for entrepreneurship, the operation of municipal enterprises, digital services, education, and social policy.
For communities, this means preparing to put European rules into practice in local governance. Opening the negotiations does not automatically impose new obligations on city councils. Specific requirements and timelines will be set during the negotiations and through amendments to Ukrainian legislation.
Cluster 2, Internal Market, aims to prepare Ukraine to participate in the EU single market, which ensures the free movement of goods, services, capital, and human resources. It covers rules on company operations, intellectual property protection, financial services, competition, and consumer and health protection.
Of particular importance to communities are the rules on support for businesses and municipal enterprises. Local tax breaks, subsidies, and other forms of assistance must be justified and comply with competition rules. Openness of local documents, decisions, and public finances helps achieve this. These are areas that the Transparent Cities program assesses in the European City Index.
This means convenient access to legal regulations, information on local taxes and fees, budget decisions, and budget implementation reports. These documents should be collected in regularly updated thematic sections on the council’s website. Entrepreneurs can then understand the conditions for doing business in the community, and residents can track how funds are spent and take part in discussing budget priorities.
Cluster 3, Competitiveness and Inclusive Growth, covers digitalization, taxation and customs, economic policy, and industrial and enterprise development. It also concerns employment, social policy, education, science, and culture.
For communities, the digital component involves developing user-friendly e-services and working systematically with open data. These are two more areas of the European City Index. Residents should be able to find services easily through a “single point of entry” on the council’s website, whether to book an appointment at an Administrative Service Center, request available online services, or rate service quality. Communities do not have to build every tool themselves; they can provide access to existing state or partner solutions.
It is also important to update data regularly and publish it in machine-readable, reusable formats. This is the foundation for services that help people check whether medicines are in stock at municipal healthcare facilities, find barrier-free facilities, or get public transport information.
The responsible use of artificial intelligence in public services requires particular attention. The EU is phasing in the AI Act, which sets rules according to the risks posed by such systems. Since August 2026, its requirements include transparency in interactions with AI: people must know when they are talking to a chatbot. Ukrainian communities should take these approaches into account when developing their own services. That means setting rules for AI use, training staff, and providing for human oversight wherever the technology may affect residents’ rights, for instance when processing applications for social assistance.
The OECD Public Governance Review of Ukraine also points to broader governance tasks: strengthening planning and coordination, building staff competencies, engaging citizens, and using AI responsibly. For communities, these recommendations mean clearly allocating responsibilities, training teams, and involving residents in designing and improving services.
Communities can start preparing by reviewing their own programs. They should look at how they support businesses, what barriers service users face, and how they address the needs of different groups of residents. It is also important to take part in discussions of upcoming reforms so that new tasks reflect communities’ staffing and financial capacities.
The opening of these clusters makes capable local governance more important. Rules agreed at the national level must work in the specific services, programs, and decisions of local councils.
The day before, all 27 EU member states consented to opening both clusters, Ireland’s Minister of State for European Affairs and Defence Thomas Byrne announced. In total, the accession negotiations cover six thematic clusters. Opening a cluster launches the corresponding stage of negotiations, and further progress depends on Ukraine meeting the agreed requirements.
As we reported earlier, the Transparent Cities program has published the results of the first annual study of the European City Index. None of the municipalities studied achieved a high overall score in the European City Index 2025. The average score is 44 out of 100, with results ranging from 29.9 to 54.8 points.
This material is funded by Norway. Its content is the sole responsibility of Transparency International Ukraine and does not necessarily reflect the views of the Norwegian Government.