On June 13 (Moscow time), according to TASS, Hungarian Prime Minister Péter Magyar said that the start of negotiations for Ukraine's accession to the European Union (EU) on June 15 is just the first step in a long and complex process that could take many years to complete.
According to TASS, Hungary has withdrawn its opposition to Ukraine's EU accession process after Kiev agreed to restore and guarantee the rights of the Hungarian community in the Zakarpattia region under the agreement between the two countries.
Ukraine has officially included the terms of the Hungary-Ukraine agreement in the action plan built within the framework of the EU accession process. This means that the implementation of commitments related to the rights of the Hungarian community in Zakarpattia will also meet the requirements of the EU," Mr. Magyar said on national television.
The Hungarian leader said that the implementation of Kiev's commitments will be regularly monitored by the European Commission (EC) and the European Council in the coming time.
If Ukraine does not fully fulfill its obligations related to the rights of the Hungarian minority community, it will not be able to go further in the process of joining the EU," he warned.
According to Mr. Magyar, opening the first negotiating group does not mean that Ukraine will soon become a member of the EU.
He cited the case of Montenegro, a country that started negotiations to join the EU in 2012 but has not yet officially joined the bloc, to show that this process could take many years despite significant progress.
Previously, Mr. Magyar repeatedly expressed his opposition to accelerating Ukraine's EU accession process.
In recent years, the Hungarian government under former Prime Minister Viktor Orbán has also repeatedly requested Kiev to restore the rights of the Hungarian community in Zakarpattia. Budapest believes that since 2015, Hungarians living in this area have been restricted in many rights, including the right to use their mother tongue in the fields of education and culture.
At the EU Summit in Brussels on June 26, 2025, Mr. Orbán once prevented a joint statement in favor of Ukraine, thereby slowing down Kiev's progress in opening EU accession negotiations.
Disagreements related to the rights of the Hungarian minority community are considered one of the main reasons for the deterioration of relations between the two neighboring countries in recent times.
According to TASS, the government of Prime Minister Péter Magyar is currently seeking to improve and normalize relations with Ukraine.
