Hungary again blocked Ukraine’s progress towards the EU: Budapest did not agree to the opening of two negotiation clusters

Hungary has refused to support further progress in negotiations on Ukraine’s accession to the European Union. During a meeting of the EU Council working group in Brussels, the representative of Budapest did not agree to the approval of the screening results of negotiation clusters 4 and 5, which cover energy, transport, agriculture and other important areas.

Hungary opposed the opening of new clusters

On October 20, 2026, a meeting of the Council of the European Union’s Enlargement Working Group (COELA) was held in Brussels, during which the results of the screening of Ukrainian legislation were discussed.

According to diplomatic sources, Hungary refused to approve the results of the assessment of the compliance of Ukrainian legislation with EU norms for two negotiation clusters.

Thus, Budapest did not support further progress in the procedure for their opening.

At the same time, the specific arguments of the Hungarian side remain unknown at this time. The interlocutors of the publication did not specify the reasons for which the representative of Hungary justified his position.

Which negotiation clusters did Hungary not agree to?

These are the last two thematic clusters of the negotiation process on Ukraine’s membership in the EU.

Cluster 4 — “Green Agenda and Sustainable Connectivity”.

It covers the following areas:

transport policy;

energy;

trans-European networks;

environmental protection;

climate change issues.

Cluster 5 — “Resources, agriculture and cohesion policy”.

It includes:

agriculture;

veterinary and phytosanitary policy;

fisheries;
regional policy and coordination of structural instruments;

financial and budgetary provisions.

The opening of these clusters is part of the negotiation process, during which Ukraine must bring national legislation and state policy into line with European Union standards.

Ukraine has previously agreed to changes to lift the Hungarian veto

The situation arose shortly after the previous progress in the negotiations on European integration.

As reported by “European Pravda”, on October 13, the EU Council officially opened two more negotiation clusters for Ukraine.

To eliminate Hungary’s objections, the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine previously adopted amendments to the legislation on education.

In addition, the Deputy Prime Minister for European and Euro-Atlantic Integration Vsevolod Chentsov previously stated that relations between Kyiv and Budapest were improving in the context of negotiations on membership in the European Union.

However, the latest position of the Hungarian side indicates that disagreements regarding the further stages of the negotiation process remain.

Does this mean stopping Ukraine’s accession to the EU

Hungary’s refusal to agree on the results of the screening of the two clusters does not mean stopping the entire negotiation process on Ukraine’s membership in the European Union.

At the same time, the lack of the necessary agreement complicates the transition to the next procedural stages in the relevant areas.

For the official opening of the negotiation clusters, the EU Member States must agree on the necessary decisions in accordance with the established procedure.

Further development of the situation will depend on consultations between the EU Member States and the possibility of reaching a common position.