All 27 EU member states unanimously agreed on Monday, Oct. 12, to open Cluster 2, the internal market, and Cluster 3, competitiveness and inclusive growth with Ukraine and Moldova, only hours after Kyiv passed a minority education law.
Ireland’s Minister of State for European Affairs and Defense, Thomas Byrne, announced the decision on X, following months of Hungary vetoing steps related to Ukraine’s EU accession.
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“I can confirm that all EU member states have agreed to: open clusters 2 and 3 for Ukraine and Moldova, close 3 chapters for Montenegro (17, 18, 19), and close chapter 20 for Albania,” Byrne wrote, calling Oct. 13 another “Super Tuesday” for the three candidate countries.
Hungary drops its objection
The breakthrough finally came through after Ukraine’s parliament, the Verkhovna Rada, passed amendments expanding education rights for national minorities and, by doing so, introduced a special status for general secondary schools serving national minorities.
Hungarian Prime Minister Péter Magyar welcomed the move in a statement on Facebook, saying that the amendments would make it fundamentally easier for Hungarian children in Ukraine’s Transcarpathia region to use their native language.
The law effectively creates a special status for schools where most students are taught in a minority language that is also an official EU language.
Parliamentary estimates currently suggest that around 149 schools (approximately 1.2% of Ukraine’s secondary schools) could qualify. The provision, however, will not apply to Russian.
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Months of delays
Hungary had blocked Clusters 2 and 3 four times, with its fourth refusal on Sept. 8, when Budapest declined to say which legislative steps it expected from Kyiv.
“We are practically negotiating with our Hungarian partners with the EU every day to avoid artificial delays in the negotiation process,” Ukrainian Foreign Ministry spokesperson Heorhii Tykhyi told European Pravda.
The move followed a previous refusal on Sept. 1, when Hungary offered to lifts its veto only if Kyiv demonstrated progress in protecting the rights of the country’s Hungarian minority in the Transcarpathia region.
In June, President Volodymyr Zelensky and Magyar sealed what the Hungarian PM described as a “historic agreement”, formally securing the political, educational, cultural and linguistic rights of ethnic Hungarian communities in Transcarpathia.
Budapest later tied the opening of further clusters to Ukraine turning those commitments into law.
Meanwhile, the dispute has also impeded Moldova’s progress, as the two countries’ EU accession processes remain closely linked.
Ireland, which currently holds the rotating presidency of the EU’s Council, opposed separating the two countries’ accession tracks with other EU members.
Where Ukraine’s talks now stand
Accession negotiations cover 33 chapters grouped into six clusters. On June 15, Ukraine and Moldova opened Cluster 1 – Fundamentals, and Cluster 6 – External Relations on July 14.
Once clusters 2 and 3 are formally opened on Tuesday, two clusters will remain: Cluster 4 – on the green agenda and sustainable connectivity, and Cluster 5 – on resources, agriculture and cohesion.
The European Commission previously proposed limiting Ukraine’s access to EU farm subsidies and markets for sensitive products even after accession, which Agriculture Minister Taras Vysotskyi rejected on Tuesday, Oct. 5. by saying that Kyiv cannot accept permanent restrictions.
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