Hungary secures removal of language on accelerating Ukraine’s EU accession from summit final statement

Hungary secured an amendment to the final statement of European Union leaders on the question of Ukraine’s accession to the bloc: language referring to the acceleration of that process was removed from the text.

This was announced by new Hungarian Prime Minister Péter Magyar, who is participating for the first time in the two-day EU summit in Brussels.

Magyar described the outcome on Facebook. According to him, work on the text of the statement had been ongoing for several weeks, and the document was “significantly revised” at Hungary’s proposal.

“During the work on the text over several weeks, the statement was significantly revised at Hungary’s proposal. In addition, in connection with Ukraine’s EU accession process, a formulation indicating the acceleration of that process was removed from the text at my initiative at the last moment. It was not easy,” Magyar wrote.

In the summit’s final statement, the clause on Ukraine’s accession to the EU is worded as follows: “The European Council welcomes the holding of the intergovernmental conference on Ukraine’s accession to the European Union and the opening of the cluster on fundamental issues on 15 June 2026, and looks forward to the opening of other clusters in accordance with a merit-based approach.”

Magyar has repeatedly stated that Hungary’s new government opposes the accelerated admission of Ukraine to the EU. Budapest’s position is that the general criteria applicable to all candidates for accession to the bloc should apply to Ukraine as well.