Key facts
- Hungary's Prime Minister Péter Magyar lifted the country's veto on Ukraine's EU membership bid.
- Magyar opposes fast-tracking Ukraine's path to EU membership, citing the need to prioritize Western Balkan candidates.
- Hungary blocked further progress on opening negotiating clusters with Ukraine.
- A bilateral agreement on minority rights for Hungarians in Ukraine was a precondition for lifting the initial veto.
- Hungarian public opinion, shaped by past government narratives, is largely skeptical of Ukraine's EU aspirations.
Hungary's newly sworn-in Prime Minister Péter Magyar has tempered expectations regarding Ukraine's EU membership bid, despite lifting Budapest's long-standing veto on the accession process in early June. While the move was welcomed by EU leaders like Commission President Ursula von der Leyen and Council President António Costa, Magyar has since made it clear that he opposes any rapid advancement of Ukraine's membership.
At his first European Council summit, Magyar requested the removal of language calling for the swift opening of all remaining negotiating clusters with Ukraine. He stated that opening all other clusters immediately after the first was "not a good idea." This stance aligns with his election campaign, where opposition to Ukraine's fast-track membership was a key theme.
According to Dániel Hegedűs, Deputy Director of the Institut für Europäische Politik, Magyar's decision to lift the veto on the initial cluster was primarily a strategic move to re-establish Hungary as a constructive partner within the EU. This was reportedly linked to a political agreement with von der Leyen on the release of €16.4 billion in frozen EU funds for Hungary, though both sides denied a direct connection.
Magyar's resistance to further progress stems from the belief that further moves are not essential for maintaining his government's image and offer no immediate political benefit. Last week, Hungary blocked a joint EU position at the working-party level concerning the remaining five negotiating clusters. Magyar emphasized that "the first cluster has only just been opened" and the details of a bilateral agreement on minority rights for the Hungarian community in Ukraine, which preceded the veto lift, have not been made public.
Magyar also framed his position as a defense of Western Balkan candidates, such as Montenegro and Serbia, who have been in the accession process for years, arguing that fast-tracking Ukraine sends the wrong message to them. Hegedűs, however, questioned the good faith of Hungary's position, noting that many Western Balkan candidates have progressed quickly through similar stages.
Domestically, a significant portion of Hungarian society remains skeptical of Ukraine's EU aspirations, a sentiment shaped by years of anti-Ukrainian propaganda. Magyar, a nationalist figure who previously belonged to Orbán's Fidesz party, appears to be navigating this landscape carefully to avoid criticism from the far-right.