Hungary still awaiting Ukrainians' implementation of agreement on Hungarian minority rights

Ukraine’s EU accession process has come to a standstill after Hungary once again blocked it by refusing to approve the screening reports for the second and third negotiation clusters (the legal framework of candidate countries is categorized into various groups or clusters). Simultaneously, as reported by the Kyiv Post, Budapest has indicated that it will withdraw its objection if Kyiv takes steps towards protecting the rights of the Hungarian minority in Ukraine.

Ukraine’s accession to the EU also came up on Thursday at the opening of the Cultural Diplomacy Conference, where Hungarian Foreign Minister Anita Orbán, responding to a question, said: “Our position on Ukraine’s accession to the EU is firm; we do not support the fast-track procedure under any circumstance.”

According to MTI, they are now waiting for the Ukrainians to implement the agreement on the Hungarian minority reached in June. As she said, the Ukrainian parliament must adopt the legislative amendments which guarantee the rights of the Hungarian minority in the areas of education, culture, and political representation. The deadline for implementing the part of the agreement related to education is December 31, 2026, while arrangements in other areas are expected to be finalized in 2027.

The agreement about the Hungarian minority in Ukraine was a prerequisite for Hungary’s consent to the opening of the first cluster, and if the legislative amendments to which Ukraine has committed do not take place in 2026 and 2027, the implementation of the cluster will automatically be suspended.