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Despite the Hungarian veto, the first negotiations with Ukraine are planned for the end of June

by AI | 14.Jun 2024 | Europe in brief AI

The problem is still the Hungarian blockade. As previously reported by PAP, Budapest has objections to the negotiation plan for discussions with Ukraine (although not with Moldova) – raising issues such as the rights of national minorities, trade, combating corruption, agriculture, and good neighborly relations with other countries.

Photo: Denes Erdos/AP/dpa

Although Hungary is still blocking the transition to accession negotiations with Ukraine, the Belgians, who hold the presidency this semester, plan to convene an intergovernmental conference at the end of June. “The Hungarians may change their mind two days before” the conference, says an EU source.

The adoption of the so-called negotiation framework by the EU separates Ukraine and Moldova from the negotiation table. This document, which sets out the rules for accession talks and their specific chapters, must be unanimously approved by the member states.

According to a source from the EU, the issue of the negotiation framework has meanwhile fallen off the agenda of the meeting of the ambassadors of the member states on Friday. They are to return to the matter next week – which is the last possible date before the meeting of European Affairs Ministers, which will take place on June 25 in Luxembourg. Then the intergovernmental conference with Ukraine and Moldova was to be inaugurated.

The Belgian presidency, responsible for its organization, still plans this meeting. “We hope to clarify all matters by then,” says an EU diplomat.

The problem is still the Hungarian blockade. As previously reported by PAP, Budapest has reservations about the negotiating framework for talks with Ukraine (though not with Moldova) – it raises, among other things, the issues of minority rights, trade, anti-corruption efforts, agriculture, and good neighborly relations with other countries.

“The Hungarians may change their mind two days before,” indicates another PAP interlocutor. “No one really knows what they want, and they don’t tell us. After all, they are blocking decisions that don’t even affect Ukraine, such as the European Peace Facility, from which money is paid to member states as reimbursement for equipment purchases for Ukraine,” he said.

If Budapest does not agree to adopt the negotiation framework, the resolution of this matter and the start of accession talks with Ukraine and Moldova will shift to the Hungarian presidency of the EU. If the Hungarians decide to maintain the blockade, it is possible that a breakthrough would only occur under Poland’s presidency in the first half of 2025. (13.06.2024)