Hungary is blocking the opening of negotiation clusters for Ukraine.
The European Union will open the first cluster of negotiations on Moldova's accession to the EU on July 4 during the EU-Moldova summit in Chisinau.
The corresponding statement by the President of Romania Nicusor Dan was published by the European Commission.
“In the process of accession [to the EU], negotiations are underway on 33 chapters, and the first chapter will be opened at the summit in Chisinau on July 4 with the participation of representatives of the European Commission,” he said.
According to the Romanian President, negotiations will be opened on the “Fundamental Values” cluster.
As is known, Moldova applied to join the EU a few weeks after Ukraine, in the spring of 2022. Since then, both countries have been moving in sync on their path to joining the EU.
However, the opening of negotiating clusters for Ukraine is blocked by Hungary. The Prime Minister of the neighboring country, Viktor Orban, who has taken an anti-Ukrainian position, initiated a referendum in his country regarding Ukraine's accession to the EU.
According to the Hungarian publication Hirado, Orban said that 95% of those who took part in this referendum voted against Ukraine's accession to the EU. However, the average turnout in the country for this plebiscite was only 27.02%.
However, Orban intends to use this vote as an argument at the European Council summit, which will take place in Brussels on June 26-27.
Among the key topics of the meeting is an assessment of Ukraine's progress towards EU membership. The Ukrainian side has already submitted documents to the European Commission to begin negotiations on three clusters: “Basics of the accession process”, “Internal market” and “External relations”.
Let us recall that the day before, on June 25, Deputy Chairman of the Russian Security Council Dmitry Medvedev stated that the European Union had become “Russia’s real enemy,” and therefore Moscow would oppose Ukraine’s entry into this bloc.
