Ukraine’s parliament has approved legislation protecting the education rights of national minorities, including Hungarian-language education. The decision removes a major obstacle to further progress in Kyiv’s EU accession talks, although Hungary says it will closely monitor how the new rules are implemented.
Ukraine’s parliament has approved a bill on the education rights of national minorities, paving the way for further progress in the country’s European Union accession negotiations.
The legislation guarantees Hungarian-language education and provides legal certainty for minority schools, addressing a key demand of the Hungarian government concerning the ethnic Hungarian community in Transcarpathia, western Ukraine.
The Ukrainian media reported the decision on Monday, 12 October. The bill will now be sent to Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy for signature.
Hungarian Foreign Minister Anita Orbán had said earlier on Monday that Budapest expected the Ukrainian parliament to approve the legislation, adding that the government was “waiting for news from Kyiv”.
Following the vote, attention will turn to the law’s implementation and the next steps in Ukraine’s EU accession process.
Hungary will monitor implementation of the law
Orbán welcomed the progress made in negotiations but stressed that passing the legislation would not be enough.
“The implementation is what will be very important after this; we will monitor it,” the foreign minister said ahead of a meeting of EU foreign ministers in Luxembourg.
The Hungarian government has already initiated the convening of an education subgroup under a bilateral intergovernmental committee. Representatives of Hungarian minority organisations in Transcarpathia are expected to participate in monitoring whether the promised guarantees are respected in practice.
Orbán also emphasised that Hungary has both bilateral and international tools to ensure compliance with the agreed conditions.
The legislation is part of a broader agreement reached between the Hungarian and Ukrainian governments in June 2026 on protecting the rights of ethnic Hungarians in Ukraine. The issue has played a central role in the dispute over Kyiv’s EU accession negotiations.
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Could Ukraine unlock two more EU negotiating clusters?
The law’s approval opens the way for Hungary to allow the next procedural steps towards opening two additional groups of EU accession negotiating chapters.
Orbán said Budapest had approved the letters necessary to pave the way for an intergovernmental conference between Ukraine and EU member states.
However, sending these letters does not itself open the negotiating clusters. Further decisions are required, and key steps in the accession process depend on the unanimous support of all EU member states.
Ukraine’s accession talks have faced repeated obstacles in recent years. The previous Hungarian administration initially supported starting negotiations after Russia’s full-scale invasion in 2022, and Ukraine received candidate status in 2023. The EU formally opened accession negotiations in 2024.
Hungary subsequently blocked the opening of the first negotiating cluster, despite the European Commission assessing Ukraine as ready to proceed.
That cluster was finally opened in June 2026, following the agreement between the new Hungarian government, led by Prime Minister Péter Magyar, and Kyiv on minority rights. A milestone linked to implementing the agreement was also incorporated into the accession process.
Negotiations on the second cluster began in July, but Hungary blocked further progress in September amid concerns surrounding the implementation of the minority rights agreement.
Last week, the Financial Times reported that Budapest could allow the procedural step of sending letters concerning two additional clusters. Ukrainian Foreign Minister Andrii Sybiha subsequently thanked Hungary for giving the process a preliminary green light.
Details: Hungary to stop blocking next stage of Ukraine’s EU accession talks, Financial Times reports
What happens next?
The next step could be an intergovernmental conference at which EU member states and Ukraine formally advance the accession negotiations. The meeting could take place as early as Tuesday, according to a report by HVG’s EUrologus, following the approval of the education legislation.
The opening of further negotiating clusters would represent progress for Ukraine’s EU ambitions, but it would not mean that membership is imminent. Candidate countries must align their legislation with EU law across numerous policy areas, and each major stage of the process requires agreement from all member states.