Agreement reached with Ukraine on Hungarian minority rights, lifting EU accession veto – PM Magyar
Hungarian Prime Minister Peter Magyar has announced that a comprehensive agreement has been reached with Ukraine on expanding the linguistic, educational, cultural, and political rights of the Hungarian minority, which numbers approximately 100,000 people.
According to Ukrinform, Daily News Hungary stated this in an article.
Hungarian Prime Minister Peter Magyar made the announcement in a Facebook post on Wednesday evening.
He said the agreement was the result of several weeks of intensive expert-level negotiations between Hungary and Ukraine, involving political organizations representing ethnic Hungarians in Transcarpathia and church institutions.
"I am very pleased to announce on the eve of the Day of National Unity (celebrated in Hungary on June 4) that the Ukrainian government has committed to incorporating the agreed measures into its legal system in the near future, granting our compatriots in Transcarpathia significantly broader educational, cultural, linguistic, and political rights than before," Magyar said.
According to him, these commitments will also be reflected in Ukraine's action plan to be submitted to the European Union. In return, Hungary will agree to the opening of the first cluster of Ukraine's EU accession negotiations.
At the same time, Magyar stressed that Hungary does not support accelerating the accession process. He stated that if Ukraine succeeds in closing all 33 negotiation chapters within the next 10–15 years, Hungary will hold a legally binding referendum on the issue.
The Financial Times noted that Ukraine and Moldova were granted EU candidate status in June 2022, and their applications were considered together. In January 2025, the European Commission recommended launching formal negotiations on aligning national legislation with EU standards, but the move was blocked by then-Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán.
According to the report, the decision made on June 3 by Orbán's successor, Peter Magyar, opens the way for Ukraine and Moldova to begin negotiations on June 15. This will allow both countries to start adapting their legislation to EU standards within the first of six negotiating clusters.
As Ukrinform previously reported, on June 4 the Council of the European Union officially launched the procedure for opening Cluster 1, "Fundamentals," in accession negotiations with Ukraine and Moldova.
Photo: Screenshot from the broadcast