Mutual mistrust and strong Hungarian opposition to fast-track membership will not make Ukraine's path to the EU an easy one
BUDAPEST – Hungary’s green light for Ukraine to begin enlargement ‘cluster’ talks comes with strings attached, amid mutual suspicion and the prospect of a Hungarian referendum if Kyiv ever makes it into the EU club.
Péter Magyar, the Hungarian prime minister, announced on Wednesday evening that he would lift Viktor Orbán’s veto against formal accession negotiations. But he also set out conditions, predicting that negotiations would drag on into 2041.
Only then, said Magyar, would Hungary put Ukraine’s membership to a legally binding referendum. The vote would be dependent on Ukraine’s treatment of the Hungarian minority in the Transcarpathia region.
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