The Hungarian authorities have agreed to start negotiations on Ukraine's accession to the European Union. Hungarian Prime Minister Péter Magyar announced this in a video message posted on social networks.
„Hungary has agreed to open the first negotiation session between the EU and Ukraine on Monday, June 15“, the politician noted, quoted by the Vesti news agency.
Madzhar stressed that the opening of the negotiation session is „only the first step“ in a process that could drag on for years.
He gave Montenegro as an example: it started EU accession negotiations back in 2012, but has not yet completed them, the prime minister added.
A day earlier, on June 13, Magyar announced that the agreement between Hungary and Ukraine on the rights of the Hungarian community in Transcarpathia had been officially formalized. According to the Hungarian prime minister, Ukraine had sent an official diplomatic note confirming its readiness to implement all the provisions of the agreement. In addition, Kiev had included these provisions in the EU action plan on minority issues.
On June 12, European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen announced that EU countries had agreed to open the first negotiating cluster for the accession of Ukraine and Moldova to the European Union. According to her, the cluster dealing with fundamental issues will be launched at the first intergovernmental conference on June 15.
This refers to the initial block of negotiations, which covers key membership criteria, in particular the rule of law and the functioning of democratic institutions.