EU accession: Hungary still has not told Ukraine its demands for opening of EU negotiating clusters
Despite statements by Hungarian officials that they expect Ukraine to take certain steps to advance on its path towards the EU, Budapest has not provided Kyiv with the details.
Source: Heorhii Tykhyi, spokesman for Ukraine's Ministry of Foreign Affairs, responding to a question from European Pravda during a press conference at the ministry
Details: Tykhyi explained that Ukraine is seeking clarification from Hungary through official channels on its position and the reasons for blocking the opening of the next clusters.
Quote: "We are negotiating almost daily with our Hungarian partners and with the EU to prevent the accession process from being unnecessarily delayed. Unfortunately, even during closed-door meetings where Hungary did not approve the opening of clusters, its reservations were expressed only in general terms. In other words, we still do not understand why these obstacles are being put in the way."
More details: Tykhyi rejected suggestions that Ukraine is asking for an accelerated procedure.
Quote: "We do not believe this is some kind of fast-track movement towards the European Union. This is an absolutely merit-based approach."
More details: Tykhyi added that Ukraine has information indicating that representatives of Hungary's previous government are involved in creating obstacles to Ukraine's path to the EU.
Quote: "For 17 months, Viktor Orbán's government had blocked the opening of clusters, even though Ukraine had fulfilled all the conditions for this. But even after losing power, Orbán's team continues to disrupt the normalisation of Hungary's relations with Ukraine."
Background:
- Sources previously told European Pravda what Hungary is demanding in exchange for the opening of negotiating clusters for Ukraine, although these demands lacked specifics. It was also reported that Budapest communicated them to the EU rather than to Ukraine.
- On 1 September, Hungary again refused to approve the screening results for clusters 2 and 3 for Ukraine.
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