Ukraine’s EU bid still alive, European Commission insists despite Hungary veto
European Commissioner for Enlargement Marta Kos (Photo: Getty Images)
The European Commission expects negotiations on Ukraine’s EU accession to continue at the working group level, despite the lack of unanimous support from all member states. In this context, Hungary’s veto will not affect the overall decision, states European Commissioner for Enlargement Marta Kos.
Negotiation clusters blocked by Hungary
According to Kos, fully opening the negotiation clusters is currently impossible due to the veto of Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán. At the same time, she emphasized that the accession process itself is not blocked.
“We are blocked in making decisions, but the technical work continues. We hope that work in expert groups will be accelerated, and we can do the same things we would do after the official opening of all clusters,” the commissioner said.
She also emphasized that neither Ukrainians nor Moldovans need Orbán to continue their reforms.
Budapest blocks Ukraine’s EU accession
Earlier, Marta Kos reported that the European Commission is working to open negotiation clusters on EU accession for Ukraine and Moldova by the end of November.
As is known, the European Union still cannot officially start accession talks with Ukraine, with Hungary’s veto playing a key role in the delay.
However, at the beginning of November, the European Commission published a report as part of the EU Enlargement Package, in which Ukraine’s progress on reforms was highly praised.
President Volodymyr Zelenskyy criticized Orbán for blocking Ukraine’s EU accession, explaining that the Hungarian leader’s position is influenced by elections. He stated that Orbán’s electorate is oriented toward opposing all EU actions and decisions.
