Hungary and Ukraine agree a step-by-step deal to reopen Kyiv’s EU talks

Hungary has agreed to lift its veto on two clusters in Ukraine’s EU accession talks in exchange for targeted changes to Ukraine’s education law. The arrangement follows weeks of public friction and is designed so that each side moves in parallel, with room to stop if the other does not deliver.

The recent clash peaked around a planned Carpathian summit. Hungarian Prime Minister Péter Magyar accused Kyiv of acting without coordination and cancelled a Naftogaz–MOL deal on oil storage for Ukraine. Ukrainian officials say the accusations were unfounded. Kyiv did not respond in kind. Within days Budapest began seeking a way back to talks. A meeting between foreign ministers Andrii Sybiha and Anita Orbán at the UN General Assembly in New York helped restart the dialogue; parallel contacts between Anita Orbán and Deputy Prime Minister Vsevolod Chentsov covered the EU track.

Kyiv slams Hungary’s ‘Orbanism’ after Budapest rejects Carpathian Eight and fuel storage plan

The core exchange is straightforward. Ukraine will pass amendments to the law on education that were already listed in the EU accession roadmap and have been coordinated with minority representatives. Hungary will allow the opening of clusters 2 and 3 (internal market, and competitiveness and inclusive growth). Hungary had already promised in June to lift its veto once the roadmap was agreed; the new arrangement adds a step-by-step sequence because trust remains low.

Ukraine has registered the bill. On 6 October Hungary is expected to let the Irish EU presidency request Ukraine’s negotiating positions on the two clusters. Parliament is due to adopt the law in a single sitting on 12 October, ahead of an EU Council decision on 13 October and a European Council discussion of enlargement on 15 October. Officials say the votes are available, including from MPs who normally defend Ukrainian-language rules.

The main change creates a “national-minority school” status. A school can qualify if more than half its pupils are taught in the minority language; the status is kept automatically down to 20 percent and can then be reviewed only after consultations. Sitting headteachers are exempt from a new Ukrainian-language certificate requirement. Children may use their own language outside lessons. The rules cover all minorities, not only Hungarians, and explicitly exclude Russian. Indigenous languages, including Crimean Tatar, face a lower threshold (one class is enough). Romanian representatives were also consulted.

If the timetable holds, the two clusters open and the immediate bilateral crisis eases. Hungarian officials can present the outcome as something Orbán did not obtain. Ukrainian officials expect the remaining clusters to be opened by the end of the year, though a leaders’ meeting between Volodymyr Zelenskyy and Magyar may still be needed to clear the last vetoes. Both sides note that Russia and Orbán’s party have an interest in disrupting the sequence.

The article in Ukrainian by the chief editor of EUalive’s partner European Pravda Sergiy Sydorenko can be found here.

Caption: Hungary’s Prime Minister Peter Magyar attends a press conferencd after a Visegrad Group (V4) and Ireland leaders’ summit in Bratislava, Slovakia, 10 September 2026. EPA/JAKUB GAVLAK