Within the framework of technical consultations on Ukraine's European integration, most of Budapest's requirements were agreed upon, but the issue of representation of national minorities in the Verkhovna Rada remains unresolved and may become the subject of further negotiations with the EU.
This was reported by “Suspilne“ - the largest independent media company in the country.
According to the publication, last week, during the technical consultations, 10 of the 11 requirements of Budapest were agreed upon.
“One of the points on which no agreement was reached is the representation of the national minority in the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine. This issue has been put aside for now, and Hungary nevertheless agreed to open the first cluster of negotiations on Ukraine's accession to the EU," the article says.
Nevertheless, the parties agreed to turn to the Council of Europe (Venice Commission) and the OSCE for clarification on how this can be implemented. This issue may arise again during the negotiations on the first cluster, which concerns human rights.
It is noted that in some EU countries (Croatia, Romania, Slovenia) the electoral system is structured in such a way that special quotas for representatives of minorities operate.
According to the media, Bulgaria also plans to make demands on Ukraine on the issue of national minorities. One of the EU diplomats reported:
"I heard from them that the Bulgarians want to guarantee the educational rights of their minority in Ukraine. They have such a problem that their people abroad usually speak Russian, and they want to develop the Bulgarian language".
Bulgaria officially ties its support for Ukraine's European integration to ensuring the right of the Bulgarian minority to learn in their mother tongue.
A large part of the Bessarabian Bulgarians in Ukraine use Russian in their daily lives due to historical assimilation since Soviet times. New laws on education and national minorities in Ukraine require a higher percentage of classes in Ukrainian, which has raised concerns in Sofia about the future of Bulgarian schools.
Sofia's main demands are to guarantee the status of Bulgarian Sunday and general schools in Odessa and other regions and to provide sufficient classes in Bulgarian language, literature and history.
European Commissioner for Neighbourhood Policy and Enlargement Negotiations Marta Koss said that the EU accession process does not provide for precise dates, but provided that Ukraine fulfills all necessary obligations and implements reforms, it is entirely possible that the country will be ready to join the European Union by 2030.