The process of negotiations on Ukraineʼs accession to the European Union may be automatically suspended if Kyiv fails to implement agreements regarding the rights of the Hungarian minority in Transcarpathia.
This was stated by Hungarian Minister of Foreign Affairs and Trade Anita Orban before the meeting of the EU Foreign Affairs Council in Luxembourg, Radio Liberty reports.
Orban stated that after several weeks of intensive negotiations, Budapest and Kyiv signed a bilateral agreement on June 13 that enshrines the rights of the Hungarian minority in Transcarpathia, primarily in the areas of education, public administration, use of national symbols, and culture.
This agreement is part of the first negotiating cluster, which deals with fundamental rights, democracy and the rule of law, and is due to open on June 15 in Luxembourg.
"The agreement also includes a so-called joint benchmark, which means: if Ukraine does not fulfill this agreement or does not fulfill it fully, the accession process within this cluster will automatically stop," the Hungarian minister said.
She emphasized that for Hungary, the fulfillment and implementation of agreements on minority rights is a "fundamental condition" for Ukraineʼs European integration.
At the same time, Orban stated that Budapest no longer opposes the start of negotiations with Ukraine on joining the EU and does not support any alternative membership formats for Ukraine.
What are Ukraineʼs successes on its path to the EU?
Ukraine intensified cooperation with the EU in 2014, after the victory of the Revolution of Dignity. In the same year, the Verkhovna Rada and the European Parliament simultaneously approved the Association Agreement between Ukraine and the EU. It entered into full force on September 1, 2017. Ukraineʼs path to membership in the European Union and NATO was enshrined in the Constitution in February 2019.
On February 28, 2022, Ukraine applied for membership in the European Union. On June 17, the European Commission recommended granting Ukraine candidate status for EU membership and set out a number of conditions that the country must meet before starting negotiations on EU membership. On June 23, EU leaders gathered in Brussels for a summit, where they granted Ukraine candidate status.
At the end of 2023, the European Union allowed negotiations to begin. They were formally launched in 2024, but the process slowed down, in particular due to the position of then-Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban, who blocked the opening of negotiation clusters.
After the government changed in Hungary, the country lifted its 17-month veto on Ukraineʼs accession to the EU in June 2026.
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