EU advances Ukraine accession as Hungary lifts veto, paving way for Zelenskyy-Magyar meeting

Key Points:

• The EU Council has agreed to open two additional accession clusters with Ukraine after Hungary lifted its veto, increasing the total opened clusters to four out of six, following an agreement on the rights of Hungary’s ethnic minority in Ukraine.
• This breakthrough may lead to a first bilateral meeting between Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy and Hungarian Prime Minister Péter Magyar in Brussels, potentially improving relations between the two countries.
• The new minority law grants special legal status to schools teaching in minority EU languages, expands minority language use in education, and provides safeguards without reversing Ukraine’s promotion of the state language, Ukrainian.
• Despite progress, Ukraine’s EU accession is still uncertain as Kyiv must complete extensive reforms and secure unanimous approval from all member states, with agriculture expected to be a particularly contentious issue.
• The agreement marks a significant diplomatic achievement by resolving a long-standing dispute between Hungary and Ukraine, which had previously blocked Ukraine’s EU accession progress over minority language rights.