EU opens two more Ukraine accession clusters as Hungary lifts veto

The EU Council has agreed to open two additional accession clusters with Ukraine after Hungary lifted its veto, bringing the total number of opened clusters to four out of six.

The decision follows an agreement on the rights of Hungary’s ethnic minority in Ukraine, a long-standing demand from Budapest.

The breakthrough, alongside the opening of two additional accession clusters, could pave the way for a first bilateral meeting between Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy and Hungarian Prime Minister Péter Magyar in Brussels this week, potentially marking a turning point in relations between the two neighbouring countries.

Hungarian and Ukrainian diplomats are working to arrange the meeting, which could take place on the sidelines of the EU summit, sources told Euronews. However, no date has been set and the meeting has yet to be officially confirmed.

Magyar also raised the possibility of meeting Zelenskyy in a media interview last weekend.

Hungary has criticised Ukraine’s education and language laws since they were adopted in 2015 and 2017, respectively, as those restricted the use of minority languages in schools. The dispute triggered repeated diplomatic tensions, with Budapest under Viktor Orbán blocking Ukraine’s EU accession progress.

Since Magyar’s election victory in April, the new Hungarian government has taken a more pragmatic approach, seeking concrete guarantees for the Hungarian minority while signalling its willingness to let Ukraine’s European integration move forward.

Budapest agreed in June to open the first two accession clusters but made further progress conditional on Kyiv strengthening legal protections for Ukraine’s ethnic Hungarian minority.

Following talks with Hungarian Foreign Minister Anita Orbán in Luxembourg on Monday, Ukrainian Foreign Minister Andrii Sybiha said the two sides had agreed on the next steps and welcomed progress in implementing their bilateral commitments.

What changes under the new minority law?

One of the key provisions establishes a special legal status for schools where more than half of pupils are taught in a minority language that is also an official EU language. Schools that qualified for this status when the law entered into force can retain it as long as at least 20% of their pupils continue to study in that language.

The law also expands the use of eligible minority languages in school activities and communication, and adds safeguards for native-language education when schools are reorganised or closed.

Pupils taught in eligible minority or indigenous languages will also be able to request translated questions in external examinations, except in language and literature subjects.

Crucially for Kyiv, Ukrainian remains the language of state education. The new provisions strengthen minority-language education without reversing Ukraine’s broader policy of promoting the state language.

The changes build on reforms introduced in 2023, extending protections to minorities whose languages are official languages of the EU. Russian remains outside the scope of the new safeguards.

Beyond the accession talks

Opening the next two clusters is another step in Ukraine’s lengthy accession process, but it does not guarantee membership. Kyiv must still complete extensive reforms, and closing each cluster requires unanimous agreement among EU member states.

Even though Hungary’s objections appear to have been resolved, other EU countries could still obstruct progress.

Agriculture is expected to be one of the most contentious issues in Ukraine’s accession negotiations. Some member states fear that integrating Ukraine’s large agricultural sector into the EU’s Common Agricultural Policy could put pressure on European farmers, subsidies and market competition.

For now, the agreement between Kyiv and Budapest is a significant diplomatic achievement and ends a long-running feud between the two neighbours.

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