LONDON, October 5. /TASS/. Hungary is expected to lift its veto on the technical phase of Ukraine’s EU accession talks this week, the Financial Times reported, citing sources.
According to the newspaper, Hungarian Prime Minister Peter Magyar has instructed diplomats not to block the sending of letters to Ukraine and Moldova on the potential opening of the next two negotiation chapters on the internal market and competitiveness policy. This is a procedural but symbolic step, the article noted. The Financial Times also emphasized that Hungary’s full political support for opening these negotiation chapters hinges on the Verkhovna Rada's (the Ukrainian parliament) passage of a bill on the educational rights of minorities on October 12. The rights of the Hungarian minority in Ukraine have long been a key issue for Budapest, and the bill was drafted with the input of Hungarian officials, the newspaper emphasized.
According to the Financial Times’ source, Ukraine’s path to the EU is beginning to take shape, since if two negotiation chapters are agreed upon, only two will remain unopened: the first concerns the green agenda, and the second concerns agriculture and regional policy. The European Commission hopes to reach an agreement on these chapters by the end of the year.