MFA reveals Hungary's non-transparent stance on Ukraine's EU accession

Despite statements by Hungarian officials that they expect certain steps from Ukraine to advance on the path to the EU, Budapest does not provide Kyiv with details. This was stated at a briefing at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs by Ministry spokesperson Heorhii Tykhyi, according to Європейська правда.

The diplomat explained that Ukraine is trying through official channels to clarify Hungary's position and the reasons why it is blocking the opening of the next clusters.

"We are in almost daily talks with our Hungarian partners and with the EU to avoid artificial delays in the negotiation process. Unfortunately, even (at meetings) in closed formats, where Hungary did not agree to the opening of clusters, their warnings sounded only in general terms. That is, it is even unclear to us why some obstacles are being created again", he stated.

Tykhyi refuted the view that Ukraine is asking for an accelerated procedure.

"We do not consider this some kind of accelerated movement towards the European Union; it is absolutely a merit based approach, an approach based on merits", he emphasized.

Heorhii Tykhyi added that Ukraine has information about the participation of representatives of Hungary's previous government in creating obstacles on Ukraine's path to the EU.

"For 17 months, Viktor Orbán's government blocked the opening of clusters, although Ukraine fulfilled all the conditions for this. But even having lost power, Orbán's team continues to disrupt the normalization of relations between Hungary and Ukraine", he stated.

Earlier, "EuroPravda" learned what Hungary demands in exchange for opening clusters for Ukraine, but these demands lacked specifics. It was also reported that Budapest informed the EU, not Ukraine, about this.

Before that, Hungarian authorities again blocked the opening of clusters 2 and 3 for Ukraine.