BRUSSELS – In a media address ahead of the meeting of the European Council, Hungarian Prime Minister Péter Magyar once again argued that fast-tracking Ukraine’s negotiation clusters without delay would send a very negative signal to the Western Balkan countries that are already in the accession process.
“Views are divided on the subject of Ukraine’s EU accession. Hungary is advocating a merit-based process… The EU cannot bypass the Western Balkan countries, which have been negotiating for years, with a different kind of enlargement process, as that would be neither honest nor pragmatic”, Magyar said on Thursday, it was reported by Telex.hu.
He also welcomed the fact that an agreement had been reached with Ukraine regarding the rights of the Hungarian minority in Transcarpathia, which made it possible to open the first cluster of EU accession negotiations with Ukraine.
“Some might want a different kind of accession process, some would open everything immediately, and some would open only two chapters… The Hungarian government is among the member states which would proceed more slowly. There will need to be unanimity, it’s difficult to find a compromise among 27 member states, but I remember instances in the past when it was achieved”, Magyar remarked.
