Hungary will block negotiations on Ukraine's accession to the EU

Due to disputes over minority rights, Hungary is set to block the start of negotiations on Ukraine's accession to the European Union, and as a condition for lifting its veto, it calls for Georgia to be granted candidate status.

This is stated in a publication by Radio Liberty journalist Rikard Dzosvyak.

Some of Joswiak's interlocutors in the EU believe that Ukraine will receive a "green light" to start accession negotiations by the end of the year, but Hungary may still veto it.

"During the discussion in Brussels after the presentation of the report (on the implementation of the European Commission's recommendations - Ed.), Hungary was very critical of Kyiv for not doing enough to ensure minority rights," he notes.

One of the options under which Budapest would still approve the start of negotiations on Ukraine's accession to the EU is to grant Georgia the candidate status, which it was denied last year because of the rollback of reforms.

"In recent years, the Georgian government has been developing much closer relations with Budapest," notes Dzogviak, predicting that reaching a consensus on Georgia's candidacy "will be a difficult task, to put it mildly,", especially given its failure to implement nine of the European Commission's 12 recommendations.

Author - Olena Madiak, 26/06/2023