The European Commission and Ursula von der Leyen had hoped that, following the departure of Viktor Orban, Hungary’s new government would cooperate in return for access to EU funds that the Commission had previously withheld for political reasons, and would no longer stand in the way of Ukraine’s accession process.
That, however, has not happened.
Hungary’s new government this week once again blocked the opening of the EU’s second and third negotiating clusters for Ukraine, for the third time, even as it has already agreed to open the same clusters for Moldova.
Ukraine and Moldova are not on the agenda of the next meeting of the EU’s enlargement working group, known as COELA.
Ukraine’s accession talks began in June with the opening of the first cluster, known as “Fundamentals,” which also covers the issue of national minorities.
Budapest has already indicated that if Kyiv fails to implement the bilateral agreement on minority rights, Hungary will prevent further progress in the accession negotiations.
