Hungary has indeed blocked the start of talks on Ukraine's accession to EU - Deputy Prime Minister for European Integration

Hungary has blocked Ukraine's further progress on the path to EU membership. To do so, Budapest used the principle of unanimity of decisions by member states on EU enlargement.

At the same time, Hungary is demanding to expand the list of conditions for Ukraine, in particular, a "plan for the protection of national minorities." This was stated by the Deputy Prime Minister for European Integration and Minister of Justice of Ukraine Olha Stefanishyna to Ukrainian journalists on the sidelines of the Munich Security Conference.

Stefanishyna first spoke about the blocking during a public discussion at the Ukrainian Lunch in Munich.

"While we are talking here, one member state is blocking the start of talks on Ukraine's accession to the EU - it happened just yesterday," she said, without going into details.

Later, Stefanishyna explained that it was Hungary.

"Indeed, our colleagues from the member states informed us that the representatives of the EU countries failed to approve an official invitation to Ukraine to open the first cluster of negotiations on EU accession. Hungary is allegedly demanding to expand the list of conditions for Ukraine," she said.

This happened at a time when Ukraine and the European Union are preparing to start the practical phase of negotiations. They should be preceded by the opening of the Fundamentals cluster, for which the candidate state must agree with Brussels on two roadmaps: the rule of law (including human rights) and public administration reform.

How successfully Ukraine implements these roadmaps will determine our country's progress in the accession negotiations in general.

However, Hungary has demanded that Ukraine meet more requirements than the standard procedure. In particular, Budapest wants the EU's request to Ukraine to include a requirement to prepare a plan for the protection of national minorities.

For this reason, the opening of the Fundamentals is currently blocked, which makes any further decisions impossible, as well as the start of talks themselves.

Stefanishyna did not dare to predict how long the delay may last.

"We hope that the block will be lifted in the near future, and now we are waiting for details and are ready to explain what steps Kyiv is already taking in cooperation with the Hungarian minority," the Deputy Prime Minister said.

Earlier, the media reported that Hungary had blocked the start of negotiations on Ukraine's accession to the EU and had put forward a number of demands. Reports stated that Poland, which currently holds the presidency of the EU Council, sent a letter with conditions for the launch of the Fundamentals cluster, which emphasized the need to develop two roadmaps defining a plan for reforms in the rule of law and public administration.

The Hungarian delegation, however, opposed this letter and demanded that Ukraine also provide a plan for the protection of national minorities. This could delay the opening of the first cluster of negotiations set to start in April, as two more procedural decisions need to be approved by then, which could potentially be blocked too, the media noted.

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