The EU Council has agreed to open two more groups of membership negotiations with Ukraine. These groups, known as clusters, bring the total opened to four out of six. The decision became possible after Hungary lifted its block following an agreement on the rights of Ukraine’s Hungarian minority. Hungary had long demanded stronger protection for this community.
New legal measures strengthen education in certain minority languages while keeping Ukrainian as the language of state education. The agreement could also enable Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy and Hungarian Prime Minister Péter Magyar to meet in Brussels this week. Diplomats from both countries are working to arrange talks alongside the EU summit. However, no date has been set, and the meeting has not been officially confirmed.
The opening of more clusters is a step forward, but it does not guarantee EU membership. Ukraine must still carry out extensive reforms. Every EU member country must agree before each cluster can be closed, so Hungary’s decision alone cannot ensure that the remaining negotiations will succeed.
