Ukraine is ready to fulfill 11 demands of Hungary regarding the protection of the rights of national minorities.
This was stated by the Deputy Prime Minister for European and Euro-Atlantic Integration Olga Stefanishyna at the first Intergovernmental Conference on Ukraineʼs accession to the European Union.
Stefanishyna reminded that Ukraine "repeatedly and persistently" confirmed its readiness to maintain good relations with its neighbors, in particular in matters related to the protection of the rights of national minorities.
"We are now sincerely committed to fully implement the 11 issues raised, in particular, by the Hungarian side, regarding the strengthening of the protection of the rights of national minorities and to continue bilateral consultations with Hungary in this direction," she said.
Stefanishyna also noted that Ukraine is ready to implement further steps in the protection of the rights of national minorities, "agreed upon within the framework of the dialogue and on the basis of relevant agreements with Hungary, in good faith and as a contribution to mutual understanding, trust and respect."
"We expect the same contribution for further mutual understanding, trust and respect from our neighboring partners," she added.
What is known about todayʼs negotiations
Today, June 25, Ukraine and the European Union officially started membership negotiations. At todayʼs conference, the parties exchange positions and statements regarding the preliminary negotiations on the substance, which will begin with the opening of the negotiation chapters. In July, the preparatory process for the main part of the negotiations — screening — will begin. These will be bilateral meetings, at which Ukraine will present the level of approximation of its legislation to the EU according to 35 chapters. After the screening, the parties will start the first block of negotiations. This process is quite long and takes at least a year.
According to the Minister of Foreign Affairs of Ukraine, Dmytro Kuleba, today is the inaugural part, and six clusters of negotiations are still waiting for Ukraine, which will open and close according to the decision of the Council of the EU. Negotiation groups from Ukraine and the EU will work on this to bring Ukrainian legislation into line with the blocʼs standards.
When negotiations on membership are completed, there will be three more steps:
- the conclusion of the European Commission on the successful completion of negotiations and Ukraineʼs achievement of compliance with the accession criteria;
- the decision to sign the Agreement on the accession of Ukraine to the EU:
- ratification of the agreement by the parliaments of the EU member states and Ukraineʼs acquisition of full membership in the bloc.
What are the conditions in Hungary?
Hungary is asking to return to the national minority all the rights it had before 2015. In 11 points, Budapest formulated the Hungarian issues, in particular: that the status of the national school should be restored, that it would be possible to take exams again for the certificate of knowledge of the Hungarian language, that it would be possible to use it unhindered in higher education, culture and in public life.
These 11 requirements, which are supposed to guarantee the rights of the Hungarian national minority in Ukraine, were presented to the Ukrainian side by the Minister of Foreign Affairs of Hungary, Péter Szijártó, at the end of January. According to him, these conditions were included in the negotiating framework for Ukraineʼs accession to the EU, which was finally approved on June 21.
Back in March 2024 , the European Commission prepared a negotiating framework for Ukraineʼs membership in the EU, and on June 7, this executive body of the European Union recognized that Ukraine had met all the requirements and recommended the start of accession negotiations. However, on the same day, the permanent representatives of the EU countries could not make a decision on the start of negotiations for some time, as Hungary opposed it. Budapest stated that it "has conditions that still need to be met, otherwise it will not be able to accept the Commissionʼs assessment." It was about Ukraineʼs allegedly insufficient progress in the protection of national minorities.