Anita Orbán: It is important that Ukraine honor its commitments

“We expect the Ukrainian parliament to approve the bill on the educational rights of ethnic minorities today; we are ‘awaiting news from Kyiv,’” Anita Orbán said on Monday. Upon arriving at the EU Foreign Ministers' Council in Luxembourg, the Hungarian Minister of Foreign Affairs thanked everyone on both sides for their efforts towards reaching this point.

She said the legislation ensures Hungarian-language education and legal protection for schools serving minority communities in Ukraine. Last week’s approval by the Ukrainian parliament’s education committee was a prerequisite for the Hungarian government’s approval for the letter required for the opening of two groups of accession chapters.

During the accession process, EU candidate countries must adopt EU legislation. This is divided into more than thirty chapters and organized into six groups (“clusters”). The opening and closing of chapters, as well as accession itself, require the unanimous support of the member state governments. In the meantime, an enormous amount of legislation must be adopted and enforced.

In 2022, after the beginning of the Russian aggression on Ukraine, the previous Hungarian government initially pressed for negotiations with Ukraine to begin, but later became hesitant and even blocked the process. Ukraine was eventually granted candidate status in 2023—a decision made by member states unanimously, which is typical for major steps in the accession process (regardless of whether Viktor Orbán happened to be having coffee or visit the restroom at the time)—and subsequently the Orbán government agreed to the EU’s negotiating framework. Afterwards it blocked the opening of the first cluster of chapters, even though the European Commission’s assessment said that Ukraine was ready for it.

The first cluster was opened this past June, after Ukraine and the new Hungarian government reached an agreement on protecting the rights of the Hungarian minority in Transcarpathia. This was also added to the first cluster as an interim milestone. Negotiations on the second group of chapters began in July. Ukraine and the governments of certain member states would have opened all groups of chapters, but the Hungarian government blocked this in September. As we reported earlier, this may have been due to underlying disputes about the agreement on minority rights.

The Financial Times reported last week that the Hungarian government may decide to take a “procedural but symbolic” step—sending a letter—about the two chapters. This is a prerequisite for opening these two chapters, but it is not the same as actually opening them (a letter was also sent to Serbia during Hungary’s 2024 presidency, but no new chapters have been opened with the country since then). Shortly thereafter, Ukrainian Foreign Minister Andrii Sybiha expressed his gratitude for what MTI reported was a “green light” at the preparatory level to opening the two chapters. (According to the agenda, consultations with him are also scheduled for Monday’s meeting.) However, unlike with two other candidate countries, there is currently no intergovernmental conference scheduled on the official EU calendar this week with Ukraine or Moldova, which has been moving forward in the accession process alongside Ukraine. Such conferences are typically used to open or close accession chapters.

On Monday, Anita Orbán spoke about the approval of the letters, which is “necessary for an intergovernmental conference to take place. “What is very important after this is implementation; and we will monitor that” on both the Hungarian and intergovernmental levels. This will primarily be handled by an educational working group representing Hungarian organizations in Transcarpathia. Steps have already been taken to convene this group. Anita Orbán noted that the Hungarian government has both bilateral and international tools at its disposal for ensuring compliance with the conditions.

As an intermediate milestone in the opening of the first chapter, they made it part of the accession process for Ukraine to implement everything in the agreement. It is important that Ukraine honor its commitments, that everything that was discussed be carried out, Anita Orbán said.

The Hungarian Minister of Foreign Affairs called it a major achievement that three accession chapters would be closed with Montenegro on Monday, bringing the total number of closed chapters to 21 out of 35. (The country, which has been a candidate for membership since 2008, is expected to join in 2028, according to the European Commission.) The Hungarian Foreign Minister did not mention it, but an intergovernmental conference with Albania is also planned for Tuesday to close one chapter. There is currently no indication of similar meetings planned with Ukraine or Moldova on the agenda of the body representing EU ministers. President of the European Council António Costa recently wrote that he hopes additional groups of chapters will be opened with Ukraine by the EU summit beginning on Thursday. Upon arriving at Monday’s meeting of foreign ministers, Marta Kos, the European Commissioner for Enlargement noted that four intergovernmental conferences could take place this week and that Ukraine is demonstrating exceptional commitment to EU membership.

Anita Orbán confirmed that on Monday, the EU will officially approve its “most extensive” expansion of sanctions against Russia to date, targeting 800 organizations or companies and nearly 750 individuals. (Last week's reports spoke of 1,646 names.) This will expand the list by one and a half times and those on the list will be subject to travel bans, the freezing of assets, and the prohibition of using financial services. According to Anita Orbán, the sanctions mainly target the Russian military-industry and those involved in the Russian elections held in the occupied parts of Ukraine.