Budapest is ready to send an official letter to Ukraine and Moldova, which will allow launching the procedure for opening the sixth negotiating bloc on EU membership related to foreign policy, security and trade relations — this is the first of the five blocked zones. This is reported by RMF24 with reference to sources.
After sending the letter, the applicant states will present the positions, then the European Commission will prepare a draft. If all goes according to plan, the official opening of the sixth zone will take place on July 14 at a meeting of EU ministers.
At the same time, according to the radio station, there is no consensus in Brussels regarding the simultaneous opening of the remaining clusters — more and more countries are in favor of "gradual negotiations, not for their acceleration."
Ukraine and Moldova applied to join the European Union in 2022 and since then have been undergoing the procedure of assessing their readiness for membership. In 2024 The EU symbolically opened negotiations with these countries, but Viktor Orban, who was then Prime Minister of Hungary, vetoed the start of the dialogue.
On June 13, Hungary lifted the veto. At the same time, the new Prime Minister Peter Magyar stated that Ukraine should follow the path to EU membership according to the same rules as the other candidates. The parties opened the first negotiation cluster on June 15.
Soon Euronews, citing European officials and diplomats, wrote that the EU had revised plans for negotiations on Ukraine's accession because of Hungary's position - in Brussels expects to open not five negotiation clusters before the summer break, as previously planned, but only two.
On June 23, Politico, citing sources, reported that Hungary opposed sending a collective letter to the European Council on behalf of all members The EU supports the accession of Ukraine and Moldova to the community.
At the same time, the leader of the Polish conservative Law and Justice Party (PiS), Jaroslaw Kaczynski, called on the Polish authorities to block the negotiation process on Ukraine's membership in the European Union amid the aggravation of relations between Warsaw and Kiev.