Hungary threatens veto on EU negotiations with Ukraine over language demands

Hungary has stated that Budapest will block the start of negotiations with Ukraine on accession to the European Union until the Hungarian requirements regarding the language of education are met.

The political director of the Prime Minister of Hungary, Baláš Orbán, stated this in an interview with the Dutch television and radio company NOS.

As noted, the government of Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán is threatening to veto the start of negotiations with Ukraine on joining the European Union.

"Hungary has always supported Ukraine's rapprochement with the European Union," Baláš said.

However, he added that the stricter language law has changed everything.

"We will block until the problem is solved," said Orbán, answering whether Hungary will block the start of negotiations on Ukraine's accession to the EU.

According to the Hungarian Prime Minister, the new laws have made the life of Hungarians in Ukraine simply unbearable.

He refers to the recently introduced law in Ukraine, which obliges minorities, not only Hungarian, to receive at least 70 percent of education in the Ukrainian language. Thus, children who grow up in Hungarian-speaking families in Ukraine will be significantly behind in education, worried in Hungary.

Baláš emphasized that Hungary cannot accept this.

"Hungary's position is apparent: as long as this law exists, there can be no discussions with Ukrainians about their integration into the European Union," he emphasized.

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It should be noted that the European Commission considers that four of the seven criteria that accompanied the granting of the status of a candidate for accession to the European Union to Ukraine have been fully fulfilled. At the same time, the other three criteria are accompanied by recommendations from the European Commission regarding further implementation.

Among the incompletely fulfilled criteria are the reforms of legislation regarding national minorities.

On June 17, 2022, the European Commission recommended granting Ukraine the status of a candidate for EU membership and put forward seven conditions for the start of accession negotiations:

• reform of the Constitutional Court,
• continuation of judicial reform,
• anti-corruption, including the appointment of the head of the Specialized anti-corruption prosecutor's office,
• fight against money laundering,
• the embodiment of the anti-oligarchic law,
• harmonization of audiovisual legislation with European legislation,
• change in legislation on national minorities.

Already on November 8, the European Commission will provide an assessment of Ukraine's progress on the way to EU membership in its annual report. Most likely, it will be positive, but additional conditions may be put forward to Kyiv.

Recently, President Zelensky said that this decision could become the strongest in a decade: Ukraine is waiting for negotiations.