“Ukraine is far from joining the EU”: the Hungarian government put forward 11 demands
On June 25, the European Commission officially announced the start of negotiations with Ukraine and Moldova regarding EU accession. Many opportunities await our country, but for this we still have to go through a difficult path, said the head of the European Commission, Ursula von der Leyen. Hungary, on the other hand, said that Ukraine is still far enough from possible accession to the bloc.
“We are still at the beginning of the process of screening Ukrainian legislation. It is very difficult to say what stage Ukraine is at. From what I see here, as we speak, they are very far from meeting the entry criteria.” – stated Janos Boka, Hungarian Minister for European Union Affairs.
The head of the government of Hungary, Viktor Orban, stated that he does not approve of the EU’s decision to start negotiations on Ukraine’s accession to the bloc. However, he promised not to create obstacles.
Currently, when it comes to the adaptation of Ukrainian legislation to the norms of the European Union, Hungary has put forward demands for legislative changes to regulate the rights of national minorities in Ukraine.
“We have a list of eleven points, which lists the unresolved issues, as we see the situation of the Hungarian minority in Ukraine, and we expect that the Ukrainian authorities will solve the issues in cooperation with the representatives of the minorities in a constructive way. The most important issue is the structure of minority institutions, in particular cultural and educational ones, as well as the fact that the nature of these institutions should be preserved as it was before 2015”, – noted Janos Boka.
