Hungarian PM: Budapest agreed to EU negotiation cluster after Ukraine's minority plan changes

Hungarian Prime Minister Peter Magyar has explained that Hungary agreed to the opening of the first negotiation cluster between the European Union and Ukraine following Kyiv's decision to change the national minority protection plan in a version approved by EU member states. In a Facebook post, Magyar claimed that within weeks, his government achieved what his predecessor Viktor Orbán could not in ten years, and the rights of the Hungarian minority are now guaranteed.

Magyar emphasized that Budapest also secured guarantees from the EU regarding the implementation of a bilateral agreement regulating the rights of ethnic Hungarians in Transcarpathia. The Ukrainian side officially committed to fulfill all points and included this agreement in the EU Action Plan on Minorities. This means that the implementation of obligations under the Hungarian-Ukrainian agreement on minority rights has become a requirement of the European Union, and compliance will be monitored by the European Commission and the European Council.

"If Ukraine fails to meet its obligations on the rights of the Hungarian minority within the set deadlines, it will not be able to move forward in the EU accession process," Magyar stated. According to him, the agreements reached were the precondition for Hungary's consent to open the first negotiation cluster between Ukraine and the EU. At the same time, Magyar reminded that opening the cluster is only the first step in a long and complex process.

On Friday, the EU officially confirmed the start of accession negotiations with Ukraine, and beforehand, Ukraine had fulfilled the last Hungarian requirement for opening the cluster.