Hungarian Prime Minister Peter Magyar does not consider it necessary to set a specific date for Ukraineʼs accession to the European Union. According to him, membership negotiations should be based on meeting criteria, and the process itself could last 15-20 years.
He said this before the start of the European Council summit in Brussels, reports a Babel correspondent.
Magyar cited the example of the Western Balkan countries, some of which have been negotiating EU accession for 15 years but have still not come as close to membership as expected.
"We believe in accession negotiations based on merit and the fulfillment of criteria. We do not believe in weaker or stronger membership, temporary membership or parallel membership. We stand for full membership. But the path to it may take even 15 or 20 years," said Magyar.
According to Magyar, Ukraine was able to begin negotiations on joining the EU thanks to the consent of the previous Hungarian government led by Viktor Orban.
At the same time, Magyar called the strengthening of the rights of the Hungarian minority in Transcarpathia one of the results of the agreements with Ukraine, which were reached in a few weeks. These include rights in the field of education, use of language, and administrative procedures.
"We demanded guarantees and, it seems, we received them from the Ukrainian side. Of course, the real test is practice. We will see how these legislative norms will be implemented," he noted.
The Hungarian Prime Minister said that he will likely meet briefly with President Volodymyr Zelenskyy at the EU Council building on the morning of October 16. According to him, they will discuss the results of the political agreements reached in recent months.
Magyar also expressed hope that the parties will be able to open a new page in relations and later meet with the President of Ukraine in Berehove in Transcarpathia, where the Hungarian population predominates. He said that it will be possible to open there one of the institutions renovated with funds from the Hungarian state.
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 a change of government in Hungary, the country lifted its 17-month veto on Ukraineʼs accession to the EU in June 2026. However, within weeks, Hungary threatened to stop Ukraineʼs accession to the EU if Kyiv did not implement an agreement on the rights of Hungarians in Transcarpathia.
On October 12, the Verkhovna Rada adopted in two readings the law on education in the languages of national minorities and indigenous peoples, and Zelensky signed the law.
After that, on October 13, the EU Council officially opened two more negotiation clusters for Ukraine on joining the European Union — “Internal Market” and “Competitiveness and Inclusive Growth”. In total, four out of six clusters have been opened so far. The previous two were opened in June (“Fundamentals”) and July (“External Relations”).
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