EU to move Ukraine accession bid forward as Hungary drops veto

The EU has agreed to move Ukraine and Moldova to the next stage in their membership bids, as diplomats said Hungary signalled it was dropping its long-standing veto against Kyiv.

Hungary’s new prime minister Peter Magyar suggested he would be happy to move forward on Ukraine’s accession bid once Budapest’s outstanding issues with Kyiv were resolved.

“This marks a significant milestone in their European integration path, and sends a strong message of EU unity and determination,” Cyprus, which holds the rotating presidency, said in a social media post.

The European Union formally opened entry negotiations with Ukraine back in June 2024, kickstarting a complicated undertaking that usually takes years and involves negotiations on anything from agriculture to the rule of law.

But that was a largely symbolic move and actually starting the process had been held up by former Hungarian premier Viktor Orban since then.

But after Orban’s ouster in April, Hungary’s new prime minister Peter Magyar suggested he would be happy to move forward on Ukraine’s accession once Budapest’s outstanding issues with Kyiv were resolved.

A breakthrough came earlier on Wednesday (local time) when Magyar announced a “historic agreement” had been reached with Ukraine on the rights of its Hungarian ethnic minority, an issue that has long strained relations between the neighbours.

Hungary’s Magyar said Budapest wanted Ukraine to amend its minority action plan, after which it would “consent to the opening of the first accession cluster in Ukraine’s EU membership negotiations”.

But at a meeting of EU ambassadors in Brussels Wednesday evening, multiple diplomats said Hungary had already signalled it would no longer block the opening of the so-called “cluster” of negotiating topics.

EU enlargement chief Marta Kos welcomed Magyar’s announcement, saying it “opens the way for progress on the EU accession path of Ukraine”.

“This will allow Member States to take forward the work on opening the first negotiation cluster with Ukraine and Moldova,” she wrote on X.

Launched as a powerful statement days after Russia’s 2022 invasion, Ukraine’s bid for EU membership had since stuttered in the face of Hungarian opposition.

Magyar underlined that Hungary does not support a fast-track procedure for Ukraine to join the European Union.

He also said the country would hold a referendum on Ukraine’s membership should it “succeed in closing all 33 accession chapters within the next 10 to 15 years”.

- AFP