Klympush-Tsintsadze: Only Hungary does not support opening of negotiations on Ukraine's accession to EU

This was stated by Ivanna Klympush-Tsintsadze, Chair of the Verkhovna Rada Committee on Ukraine's Integration into the European Union, in an interview with Ukrinform.

"Why is it important (to approve the negotiation framework with the European Union) by the end of June? Because Hungary will preside over the European Union next after Belgium, and unfortunately, Hungary has already made it clear that it will not prioritise Ukraine's European integration. It has already announced its priorities for the presidency, and we are not on them. Therefore, it is important not to lose momentum and time, which is critical for the country's transformation," Klympush-Tsintsadze said.

According to her, Ukraine is very hopeful that the intergovernmental conference at the end of June, which will take place after the European Parliament elections, will approve the negotiation framework.

"Unfortunately, it is not a 100 per cent certainty that this decision will be approved by the end of June, and this does not concern how Ukraine has or has not done its homework. Each stage of our European integration path is constantly undermined to some extent by the position of one of the EU member states, such as Hungary. For example, we see Hungary once again blocking the use of funds from the interest on Russia's frozen assets to purchase weapons for Ukraine," the committee chairwoman said.

According to her, no other country except Hungary is currently opposing the opening of accession negotiations.

"At the moment, the European Parliament and the European Commission, as well as the majority of member states, are clearly in favour of this decision," Klympush-Tsintsadze said.

As reported, on 14 December 2023, the European Council decided to start membership negotiations with Ukraine, Moldova and Bosnia and Herzegovina, and also granted candidate country status to Georgia. The EU Ambassador to Ukraine, Katarina Mathernova, expressed hope that negotiations with Ukraine and Moldova on EU accession would begin in late June.