FM: Kyiv seeks ways to lift Hungary’s blockade on Ukraine's EU accession

Ukrainian Foreign Minister Andrii Sybiha stated that Ukraine is exploring various ways to resolve Hungary’s blockade of negotiations on the matter of Ukraine's accession to the European Union.

The minister acknowledged Budapest's position of blocking "the opening of negotiation clusters", Caliber.Az reports citing Ukrainian media.

"We are aware of Hungary’s position, which has indeed blocked the opening of negotiation clusters. We strongly hope to engage in a diplomatic process to unblock this issue, as Ukraine’s further progress toward EU membership is also in Europe’s interest," Sybiha said during a statement while on a visit to Warsaw.

The minister emphasized that Ukraine is currently considering different options for addressing the blockade in cooperation with Hungary.

He also noted that Kyiv is interested in ensuring that Poland's presidency of the EU Council is successful and hopes for Warsaw’s active role in opening specific negotiation clusters.

"We are in constant consultations with the Polish side, and today, we also touched on this issue with Minister Sikorski," the Ukrainian diplomat added.

To recall, Hungary has firmly opposed Kyiv's accession to the EU, providing military aid and security guarantees to Ukraine, resulting in the frequent blocking EU of EU efforts to support Kyiv.

Prime Minister Viktor Orbán has described differences over EU support for Ukraine as “unbridgeable” and was the only EU leader to vote with the US against a recent United Nations resolution condemning Russia for invading Ukraine. Budapest equally refrained from supporting a joint EU statement on Ukraine at the beginning of March. While Hungary plans to hold a non-binding public poll on Ukraine’s EU accession, it remains a significant obstacle to Kyiv’s membership ambitions.

By Nazrin Sadigova