Danish Minister for European Affairs Marie Biere told journalists that the EU is putting pressure on Hungary to start EU negotiations with Ukraine. Biere will chair the meeting of the EU General Affairs Council in Brussels on behalf of the Danish Presidency, BTA reports.
She pointed out that the presidency is also working on other political and practical measures that could bring Ukraine closer to the EU. Biere recalled that in July the EU and Kiev signed an agreement to abolish roaming from next year.
“Ukraine is ready to start negotiations on all issues, this is the opinion of the European Commission, everyone in the EU except Hungary supports this“, the minister specified. She added that Budapest is still blocking the process, but does not rule out the possibility of success. The presidency is taking measures to ensure that negotiations with Kiev can start and proceed quickly thanks to the preliminary preparations.
Bierre confirmed that the EC has not yet presented the proposal for a new package of sanctions against Russia, but expressed the expectation that this will happen soon. A spokesman for the commission specified that work on the list of proposals for the next sanctions is ongoing.