Brussels has found no way to overcome Hungary’s veto on Ukraine’s accession to the EU, - DW
Brussels has not found a way to overcome Budapest's veto on Ukraine's accession to the EU and is waiting for a change of government in Hungary.
A senior EU official told DW on condition of anonymity, Censor.NET reports.
The publication writes that the opening of negotiating clusters on Ukraine's accession to the EU will be possible only after the parliamentary elections in Hungary in April 2026, which are likely to result in the party of current Prime Minister Viktor Orban losing power.
Hungary is blocking the opening of the first cluster of accession talks with Ukraine, despite the fact that Kyiv has fulfilled all the necessary conditions.
"There is currently no way to override Hungary's veto," the EU official said, reminding that the decision to open negotiating clusters with an EU candidate country is made only on the basis of unanimity.
However, there have been "talks" in the EU to change this approach and make such decisions by a qualified majority, but it has remained "only at the level of talks".
According to the source, the only "realistic way out" in this situation is to continue all the technical work "in advance, so that when Orban leaves, we are ready to move forward quickly" in the accession talks with Ukraine.
Another DW source in the European institutions also confirmed that EU member states "tried to explore legal ways to circumvent Hungary's veto " and discussions on this were held in the European Commission and the EU Council, "but this did not lead to any results", so "the situation is difficult".
"It turned out that the enlargement talks are still about a political decision, although we reiterate that this is a process based on the merits of the candidate country," the EU official said, stressing that Ukraine has done everything necessary to open the first negotiation cluster on EU accession.
He also confirmed that on 29 September, the final session with Ukraine on screening, i.e. assessing Ukrainian legislation for compliance with EU laws, will be held.
After that, "a few intermediate technical steps would have to take place before the first cluster could be opened, which could take about a week to complete".
"If not for Hungary's veto, we could have opened the first and subsequent clusters very quickly," the EU official said.
