The European Commission should present the framework for membership negotiations with Ukraine on Mar. 19. However, Hungarian Commissioner Olivér Várhelyi, who is responsible for EU enlargement, is trying to make the assessment of Ukraine's progress less positive.
How Hungary can prevent the start of negotiations with the EU
The Polish edition of RMF FM reports that next week, on Mar. 19, at the meeting of ministers for European affairs, the EU should present an assessment of Kyiv's fulfilment of the three last conditions it put forward to Ukraine last November.
After a positive assessment, the EU countries can decide to organise an intergovernmental conference for the official start of negotiations on Ukraine's membership in the EU.
However, Hungarian Commissioner Olivér Várhelyi, responsible for EU enlargement, wants to prevent a positive assessment of Ukraine's progress.
In particular, it refers to the assessment of Kyiv's adoption of normative legal acts on the protection of the rights of national minorities, "de-oligarchisation" (mainly concerning lobbying — ed.) and the fight against corruption.
According to RMF FM, at the meeting of EU ambassadors on Mar. 13, a representative of the European Commission may say that Ukraine does not do everything correctly. This question is already being discussed on the sidelines of the European Commission.
This is very unfair. Ukraine's efforts are enormous, says the EU diplomat, claiming that despite the war, Ukraine has fulfilled all the conditions and adopted all the laws, including the one related to the protection of minority rights, which Hungary demanded.
The RMF FM interlocutor said that Vargei could again act "under the dictates" of Budapest and try to block the Commission's positive assessment. Another EC representative said that Olivér Várhelyi would even like to implement new conditions for Ukraine.
The Hungarian commissioner blocked the screening of Ukrainian legislation
Earlier, the Hungarian commissioner had blocked the screening, i.e., the review of Ukrainian legislation, for adaptation to EU law.
Ukraine began conducting this review in parallel with developing the EU "negotiation framework," but Olivér Várhelyi's directive stopped it.
He once again raised, in particular, the issue of the language rights of the Hungarian minority in Zakarpattia, which the Hungarian PM Viktor Orbán has been strongly politicising for a long time, writes RMF FM.
