The provision on accelerated accession of Ukraine was excluded from the EU declaration

Hungarian Prime Minister Peter Magyar said that, on his initiative, the provision on the accelerated accession of Ukraine was excluded from the declaration of the EU summit in Brussels at the last moment.

According to him, during the work on the text at the suggestion of Hungary, the final document was “significantly finalized” and “it was not easy.”

“For the first time in a year and a half, it was possible to adopt a final declaration supported by all member states,” Magyar said.

In June, the EU approved the opening of the first of six accession negotiation clusters between Ukraine and Moldova. The first cluster, known as "Fundamentals", covers, inter alia, the rule of law, the functioning of democratic institutions, public administration reform and economic criteria.

President of Ukraine Vladimir Zelensky said that before the meeting of the European Council, he discussed with the President of the European Council António Costa and the head of the European Commission Ursula von der Leyen further steps towards Ukraine's accession to the EU. “It is important to open the remaining five negotiation clusters in the near future. We expect to soon receive the first tranche from the EU financial support package in order to strengthen our defense,” he noted.

Earlier, Magyar, as European Pravda writes , told reporters that he was satisfied with the decision of the EU Council to open the first cluster, but he had doubts about the remaining clusters. “We have questions, and not only us, that immediately after the opening of the first cluster we immediately begin negotiations on the remaining clusters. This opinion, frankly speaking, is very controversial among other states,” the publication quotes him as saying.

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Kyiv applied for EU membership in 2022, weeks after Russia's full-scale invasion began, and was soon granted candidate status.

The former Hungarian government of Viktor Orban blocked the start of formal negotiations, accusing Ukraine of oppressing ethnic Hungarians living mainly in the Transcarpathian region. Negotiations were not opened with Moldova because the EU did not want to “separate” this country from Ukraine in the process of joining the European Union. The new government of Peter Magyar announced in early June that it had reached an agreement with Ukraine on the rights of Hungarians and the use of the Hungarian language, in particular in the fields of education and culture. This opened the way to accession negotiations with both Ukraine and Moldova.

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