A further cynical démarche by Hungary in Brussels has cornered European diplomats and forced them to officially put Ukraine’s European integration on hold until at least autumn.
Hungary blocked a decision on the European integration of Ukraine and Moldova
During a meeting of the Council of the EU’s Working Party on Enlargement (COELA) in Brussels on Wednesday, July 22, Hungary refused to approve the results of the screening of negotiation clusters 2 and 3 for Ukraine and Moldova. Due to Budapest’s firm stance, European diplomats were unable to make the necessary decision on the further progress of the countries on their path to joining the European Union.
This was reported by “European Pravda” citing its own sources in the EU.
Another Failure in Brussels
The second attempt by European partners to persuade Hungary to support the European integration efforts of Kyiv and Chisinau ended in absolute failure.
The officials of Péter Magyar once again demonstrated their unwillingness to compromise, blocking the official approval of the results of the candidates’ legislation review.
“Today, COELA was unable to approve the screening results of clusters no. 2 and no. 3 for Ukraine and Moldova for the second time due to Hungary’s reluctance. The issue has been postponed until September,” said one of the publication’s interlocutors.
Third Attempt After the Holidays
The COELA working group meeting on July 22 was the last before the traditional summer break in the work of the Council of the EU on enlargement.
Due to the lack of consensus and the inability to immediately continue discussing the resolution of this diplomatic problem, it had to be postponed until the beginning of autumn.
The third attempt to approve the screening results of the clusters for both states is officially scheduled for September 1.
Immediately after this step, the European Union is to send official letters to Kyiv and Chisinau requesting them to provide their negotiation positions for the specified blocks.
Budapest’s Previous Demarche
It is worth recalling that on July 17, Hungary had already blocked the process of opening negotiation clusters 2 and 3 for our country. Back then, Budapest agreed to give the green light only for Moldova regarding the third cluster, while categorically opposing a similar decision for Ukraine.
However, a number of EU member states strongly opposed the idea of separating the negotiation processes of the two countries, due to which the option proposed by the Hungarians did not receive the necessary support, and the issue was postponed to the next meeting.
Earlier, it became known that Hungary had secured the exclusion of the clause on accelerated accession of Ukraine to the EU from the joint declaration of the EU summit. Péter Magyar claims to have achieved this step at the last moment, citing a “merit-based process.”
We also wrote that Hungary became the only EU country that blocked an important procedural step for the further advancement of Ukraine’s and Moldova’s membership applications to the bloc. Kyiv had hoped for rapid progress, intending to start work on all six negotiation issue groups by mid-July. However, this optimistic schedule is now under serious threat.
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