Ukrainian FM thanks Hungary for green light on previously blocked steps in EU accession talks

Ukrainian Foreign Minister Andrii Sybiha thanked Hungary for its “green light” for opening the second and third clusters of EU accession negotiations with Ukraine, according to MTI. “Today, at the COREPER level, the Hungarian side gave the “green light” to the negotiating positions on Cluster 2 “Internal Market,” and Cluster 3, “Competitiveness and Inclusive Growth”, Sybiha said.

The Ukrainian Foreign Minister expressed special thanks to his Hungarian colleague Anita Orbán for the teamwork, which he said “is at once in the interests of our friendly nations and of a strong Europe." Sybiha noted that a bill aimed at regulating the educational rights of national minorities had recently been submitted to the Ukrainian parliament and approved by the relevant committee.

Financial Times reported on Monday that the Hungarian government might yield on a previously blocked “procedural but symbolic” step related to two groups of EU accession chapters. As previously reported, disputes surrounding the agreement on the rights of the Hungarian ethnic minority may be behind the previous opposition.

Foreign Minister Anita Orbán announced a few days ago on Facebook that a bill on the educational rights of national minorities will be submitted to the Ukrainian parliament soon. “We are pleased that in just a few months we have achieved more tangible results in strengthening the rights of the Hungarian minority in Transcarpathia than the Orbán government did in 10 years,” she wrote in her post. Péter Magyar also welcomed the move. The Financial Times previously explicitly linked the Hungarian decision to the passing of this bill.