MOSCOW, October 20. /TASS/. Hungary has blocked progress on Ukraine and Moldova’s accession to the European Union, the Kyiv Independent reported, citing diplomatic sources in Brussels and Kiev.
According to the sources, technical experts from the 27 EU countries met on Tuesday to coordinate the process of unblocking the last two negotiation clusters, those on agriculture, environment and transport.
Budapest vetoed further procedural steps in the negotiations without explaining why. According to the media outlet, the issue of these last two clusters will be raised at every subsequent enlargement working group meeting in Brussels until the stalemate is broken.
Senior EU officials told the media outlet that they expect that these clusters will be officially opened in December, despite Hungary’s position.
Hungarian Prime Minister Peter Magyar has repeatedly warned that he opposes Ukraine’s accelerated admission to the European Union and that the same requirements should be imposed on Ukraine as on other candidate countries. The Hungarian prime minister also noted that negotiations with Ukraine could be suspended if it fails to fulfill its obligations to Hungary. Moreover, in his words, Ukraine cannot joint the European Union as long as it is "in a state of war" with Russia.