Hungary blocks expansion of Ukraine’s EU accession talks

The EU has scaled back its plans for Ukraine’s membership negotiations: instead of five negotiating clusters scheduled to open in July, only two are now planned to open — after Hungary blocked a key stage of the process.

At a meeting of the Working Party on Enlargement (COELA) on Tuesday, June 23, Hungary was the only one of the 27 member states to refuse to approve the screening results for clusters 2 through 6 for Ukraine and Moldova. This was reported by EU diplomats cited by several outlets. Budapest opposed the sending of a joint letter to the European Council and the European Commission setting out the bloc’s common position on advancing the negotiations — a step requiring unanimous approval.

According to the updated schedule, cluster 6 (external relations) and cluster 2 (internal market) are planned to open before the summer recess. The remaining three clusters will be addressed in stages at a later point, Euronews reports.

“There are certain problems, but they are expected to be resolved in time to allow at least two clusters to open in July,” an EU spokesperson said.

This setback came just days after what had appeared to be a breakthrough on Ukraine’s path to the EU. On June 15, the bloc unanimously opened Cluster 1 — covering fundamental issues such as the rule of law and judicial reform — after Hungary’s new Prime Minister Péter Magyar lifted the veto that his predecessor Viktor Orbán had maintained for nearly two years. Magyar’s government reached an agreement with Kyiv on the rights of Ukraine’s ethnic Hungarian minority in Zakarpattia.

At the same time, Magyar has repeatedly stated that Hungary opposes Ukraine’s accelerated accession to the EU. Last week at the European Council summit, Budapest succeeded in having language calling for clusters to be opened “as soon as possible” removed from the final conclusions. Magyar told journalists that opening all clusters simultaneously “sends the wrong signal” to Western Balkans candidates, who have been seeking membership for years.

EU member states will attempt to persuade Hungary to drop its objections when COELA meets again on Friday, June 26. If Budapest withdraws its reservations, the Cypriot presidency has indicated its readiness to bring the matter before EU ambassadors on the same day. Should consensus be reached, the next clusters could be formally opened on July 14 at a General Affairs Council meeting. European Commissioner for Enlargement Marta Kos stressed that “everything is ready” for all five remaining clusters to be opened “in the coming weeks.”