EU States Press Hungary to Lift Ukraine Accession Block

The EU Council's Working Group on Enlargement (COELA) will resume its review of the screening results for legislative clusters two through six for Ukraine and Moldova on Friday, 26 June. The approval of these results, which officially confirms the countries' readiness for accession talks, was technically blocked by Hungary on 23 June. Budapest justified its move by saying its experts need more time for analysis.

According to diplomatic sources cited by the daily Europska Pravda, Brussels does not currently view the situation as a definitive political veto but rather as a technical reservation that the other member states will attempt to resolve at Friday's meeting.

If Hungary withdraws its reservations, the Cypriot presidency is prepared to immediately place the issue on the agenda of the Committee of Permanent Representatives (COREPER), which meets that same morning. COREPER would then, without further discussion, approve the sending of an official letter to Ukraine and Moldova calling on them to submit their negotiating positions on each of the clusters. This would pave the way for actual discussions on opening the clusters at the upcoming intergovernmental conferences.

The COELA working group began official preparations on 17 June. Although Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky expressed optimism that the five clusters would be opened in the coming weeks, sources within the EU warn that Kyiv's ambitious plan to open all chapters as early as July 2026 may not materialize.

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