According to the FT, Budapest will not block two new negotiating clusters if Ukraine's parliament passes a minority-education law by 12 October.
Hungary may lift its veto this week on the next stage of Ukraine's EU accession talks. The Financial Times reported this, citing two officials, and Ukrinform relayed the details: Hungarian Prime Minister Péter Magyar has told diplomats not to block letters on opening two negotiating clusters covering the internal market and competitiveness. For Volunteers Support Ukraine, it is worth noting a concrete, if unfinished, step on the country's road towards Europe.
Hungary's final political backing depends on whether the Verkhovna Rada adopts, by 12 October, a law expanding the educational rights of national minorities. If it does, formal procedures could begin ahead of the EU leaders' summit in Brussels. Enlargement Commissioner Marta Kos said she hopes two more clusters can open next week at intergovernmental conferences in Luxembourg, adding that Ukraine and Moldova are delivering results in extraordinarily difficult circumstances.
On 6 October the European Commission published a 25-page communication on enlargement that names Albania, Moldova, Montenegro and Ukraine as the most advanced candidates and proposes "gradual integration" — barrier-free trade and access to EU programmes before formal membership. The full enlargement report is due on 28 October.
Challenges are acknowledged too: the World Bank puts Ukraine's reconstruction needs at $588 billion, while the proposed EU reserve for candidate countries is around $100 billion. Agriculture is another sore point — Polish farmers have already protested against imports of Ukrainian farm produce.
Nothing is final yet; everything hinges on the Rada vote and consensus among member states. NGO Volunteers Support Ukraine keeps helping people affected by the war in whatever way the available aid allows, and follows how the country's European path brings the time of recovery closer.
