Hungary has spoken out against opening the final two clusters in the accession talks for Ukraine and Moldova to join the European Union.
The country announced its decision during a meeting of the enlargement working group, Suspilne reported, citing sources.
This concerns Cluster 4 (“Green Agenda and Sustainable Connectivity”) and Cluster 5 (“Resources, Agriculture and Cohesion Policy”). Because of Budapest’s position, the European Union was unable to send candidate countries official letters requesting that they submit their negotiating positions.
At the same time, Poland is seeking to introduce amendments to the already agreed common EU position on Cluster 5, which concerns agriculture. Previously, this document was approved by 26 EU member states, at a time when Hungary, under the previous government, was blocking the process overall.
- At the beginning of this month, Hungary lifted its veto on opening the second and third negotiating clusters on Ukraine’s accession to the EU.
- The situation improved after the Verkhovna Rada passed a law expanding opportunities for the education of national minorities. The issue of the rights of the Hungarian minority in Ukraine has long remained one of Budapest’s key priorities.