Hungary blocks further Ukraine EU talks pending minority rights implementation

Ukraine has made progress with Hungary on the rights of the Hungarian minority in Transcarpathia, but Kyiv refuses to treat that issue as a condition for opening the next EU accession clusters, Deputy Prime Minister Vsevolod Chentsov said on Friday.

Speaking on the sidelines of an informal EU affairs ministers’ meeting in Ireland, Chentsov was responding to Hungary’s latest refusal, on 1 September, to approve screening results for Clusters 2 (Internal Market) and 3 (Competitiveness). It was the third such block since July.

The dispute looks larger than the latest veto. After Péter Magyar’s government took office in April, Budapest and Kyiv reached a political agreement in early June on language, education, culture and political rights for ethnic Hungarians. Hungary then lifted Viktor Orbán’s long-standing veto and allowed Cluster 1 (Fundamentals) to open on 15 June. Cluster 6 (External Relations) followed on 14 July.

That June deal, however, was a commitment, not yet law. Ukraine undertook to restore minority schools, allow Hungarian in instruction and school administration, permit exams and certificates in Hungarian, and ease the use of Hungarian symbols and language in localities where Hungarians exceed 10 percent of the population. Education measures are due by the end of 2026; political-participation measures in 2027. Hungarian Foreign Minister Anita Orbán said this week that the bills have been drafted but have not passed the Verkhovna Rada. Until they do, Budapest will not clear the next clusters.

Chentsov played down talk of a “dispute.” Ukraine, he said, works with all partners, including Hungary, takes minority rights seriously and is making “good progress.” A draft will soon go to parliament. Linking that file to Clusters 2 and 3 is wrong, he argued: accession should follow the merit principle, and a formal opening would send a useful political signal to Ukrainian society and the government.

Hungary’s position is narrower. Magyar’s government opposes any fast-track procedure, wants a long merit-based process and a later Hungarian referendum, and is using the next clusters as leverage to turn the June promises into statute. On 3 September Magyar also publicly tied Hungary’s stance to minority rights.

Both sides can claim movement since April. The political deadlock of the Orbán years has eased. What has not yet happened is the parliamentary vote Budapest now treats as the price of further progress.

Hungary’s latest veto on further clusters in Ukraine’s EU accession talks has also delayed Moldova, even though Budapest’s objection is aimed at Kyiv. The two countries have been treated as a linked pair in the enlargement process, so when Hungary withholds the unanimity required for shared procedural steps – such as approving screening results or sending joint letters – other member states have often refused to let Moldova move ahead alone. Hungary has at times signalled it would allow Moldova to advance on certain clusters while still blocking Ukraine, but most EU governments opposed decoupling the tracks. As a result, the first cluster opened for both countries together in June 2026, and later blocks intended for Ukraine have produced knock-on delays for Moldova as well.

Péter Magyar has made clear that Hungary will keep protecting ethnic Hungarians from Ukraine’s Transcarpathia region even when that stance runs against new EU rules. Those rules, adopted at Kyiv’s request and in force since 5 August 2026, stop member states from granting fresh temporary protection to military-age Ukrainian men who have not fulfilled their conscription duties. Magyar has said many of the men seeking refuge in Hungary belong to the roughly 100,000-strong Hungarian minority across the border, and that it is wrong to stop people leaving a country at war. Hungary voted against the EU measure and has decided to continue granting protection anyway, treating the defence of its kin community as more important than alignment with Brussels on this point.

Hungary’s new government breaks with Orbán era after condemning Russian strike on Transcarpathia

The article in Ukrainian by EUalive’s partner European Pravda can be found here.

Caption: Hungarian Prime Minister Peter Magyar speaks during a session of the Bled Strategic Forum 2026 in Bled, Slovenia, 31 August 2026. The two-day forum is held under the slogan ‘The power to shape the future’. EPA/ANTONIO BAT