Ukraine has moved significantly closer to opening the next stage of its European Union accession process after reaching an agreement with Hungary on the rights of the Hungarian minority living in western Ukraine, ending a dispute that had blocked progress for more than a year.
The breakthrough centers on the rights of more than 100,000 ethnic Hungarians in Ukraine’s Transcarpathia region. Hungarian Prime Minister Peter Magyar described the outcome as a “historic agreement” and said it would strengthen educational, linguistic, cultural, and political protections for the community.
Magyar emphasized the speed of the negotiations, contrasting them with the lack of progress under his predecessor. “In just three weeks, we have achieved what Viktor Orban and his government failed to achieve in 10 years,” he wrote.
According to the Hungarian prime minister, Ukraine agreed to introduce the necessary legal amendments and incorporate them into the minority rights action plan it submitted to the European Union. Budapest had previously made changes to that plan a condition for lifting its objections to Ukraine’s accession talks.
The agreement removes one of the most significant obstacles facing Kyiv’s EU ambitions. Following the announcement, Ukrainian Prime Minister Yuliia Svyrydenko said all 27 member states had now supported moving forward with the first cluster of accession negotiations involving both Ukraine and Moldova.
