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AzerNEWS Staff

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Hungary has blocked further progress in Ukraine’s European Union accession negotiations for the third time, linking its objection to what Budapest says are unresolved rights of the Hungarian minority in Ukraine’s Transcarpathia region.

The latest dispute emerged on September 1 at a meeting of the European Council’s Working Party on Enlargement and Countries Negotiating Accession (COELA), its first session following the summer recess.

According to Ukrainska Pravda, citing sources in Brussels, Hungary refused to approve the screening results for Ukraine’s second and third negotiating clusters. Since decisions on opening negotiating clusters require the unanimous backing of all 27 EU member states, Budapest’s objection prevents the process from moving forward.

The second cluster covers the EU’s internal market, while the third focuses on competitiveness and inclusive growth.

The Hungarian government has said it will not support further steps in Ukraine’s accession talks until Kyiv takes measures that Budapest considers necessary to fulfil its commitments regarding national minority rights.

The issue centres on Ukraine’s ethnic Hungarian community in Transcarpathia, a region bordering Hungary.

The latest blockage comes despite a June agreement between Ukraine and Hungary that Hungarian Prime Minister Péter Magyar described as “historic”. The agreement was aimed at strengthening guarantees for the educational, cultural, linguistic and political rights of the Hungarian community in Transcarpathia.

However, the agreement has not resolved Budapest’s objections to Ukraine’s EU accession process.

Hungary had previously blocked technical preparations for Ukraine’s negotiating clusters 2 through 6. Budapest later lifted its objection to Cluster 6, which covers foreign and security policy, trade policy and relations with third countries.

The dispute has also affected Moldova’s accession process. In July, Hungary backed the advancement of Moldova’s Cluster 3, but EU member states, led by Ireland, which currently holds the rotating presidency of the Council of the EU, opposed separating Moldova’s and Ukraine’s accession tracks. Neither country therefore made progress on the issue at that stage.

Ukraine formally launched EU accession negotiations in 2024. However, opening individual negotiating clusters requires unanimous approval from the bloc’s member states, giving Hungary considerable leverage over Kyiv’s accession timetable.

The latest Hungarian objection comes after EU governments formally opened the first negotiating cluster, “Fundamentals”, for Ukraine and Moldova on June 15.

Under former Prime Minister Viktor Orbán, Budapest repeatedly opposed Ukraine’s EU membership and cited the rights of Hungary’s ethnic minority in Ukraine among its concerns. Orbán’s government had also delayed the opening of the first negotiating cluster.

Although the change in government in Budapest has altered Hungary’s broader approach to Ukraine, the latest dispute shows that Budapest still retains the ability to slow Kyiv’s path towards EU membership when it believes minority-rights commitments have not been sufficiently addressed.