Despite Prime Minister Peter Magyar's statements that Budapest opposes the accelerated admission of Ukraine to the European Union, Hungary's new government has allowed the consideration of the sixth chapter of EU accession negotiations with Ukraine and Moldova – the section on external relations. This was reported by Qazaqyia.kz citing Sputnik Kazakhstan.
This was announced by Hungarian parliament deputy and former Minister for European Union Affairs Janos Boka. On Friday, Polish radio station RMF reported that Hungary had stopped blocking the sending of an official letter initiating the procedure to open the sixth chapter of negotiations on external relations for Ukraine and Moldova.
"Based on the unanimous decision of the European Union member states, a new cluster of negotiations with Ukraine will be opened on July 14. This step comes just one month after the opening of the previous cluster. Thus, two of the six clusters will be open. In the accession process, Ukraine has effectively caught up with Serbia and surpassed Bosnia and Herzegovina, North Macedonia, and Kosovo," Boka wrote on his social media page.
The former minister ironically recalled Prime Minister Peter Magyar's words that Hungary opposes the accelerated admission of Ukraine to the EU and supports only "an approach based on the country's real achievements."
In early June, Peter Magyar stated that after reaching an agreement with Kyiv on restoring the rights of Hungarians in the Transcarpathian region, Budapest would not hinder the start of negotiations on Ukraine's EU accession. At the same time, he emphasized that Hungary does not support the accelerated admission of any country, including Ukraine, to the European Union.
On June 12, European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen announced that all EU member states had agreed to open the first cluster of negotiations on Ukraine's accession to the union.