Hungary blocks Ukraine's last two EU accession clusters despite recent reset

Hungary blocked a procedural step toward opening Ukraine's final two EU negotiating clusters on Tuesday, refusing to approve screening results for Clusters 4 and 5 at a meeting of the Council of the EU's enlargement working party in Brussels.

The move came one week after Budapest lifted objections that had held up Clusters 2 and 3 — covering the internal market, competitiveness and inclusive growth — which the EU formally opened on 13 October. Talks on the fundamentals cluster began in June and external relations in July, meaning Ukraine has now opened four of the six negotiating clusters.

Cluster 4, known as "Green agenda and sustainable connectivity", covers transport, energy, trans-European networks, environment and climate change. Cluster 5, "Resources, agriculture and cohesion", covers agriculture, food safety, veterinary and plant-health rules, fisheries, regional policy and financial and budgetary provisions. Opening either cluster requires agreement among all 27 EU member states.

Diplomats cited by European Pravda did not specify what arguments Hungary's representative gave for withholding approval.

The obstruction followed a diplomatic reset between Kyiv and Budapest. Ukrainian Deputy Prime Minister for European and Euro-Atlantic Integration Vsevolod Chentsov had said on 19 October that the two countries had "turned this page" and that Kyiv saw no major problems with its minority-rights roadmap. President Volodymyr Zelensky and Hungarian Prime Minister Péter Magyar met in Brussels on 16 October and agreed to rebuild political and economic relations.

That reset followed Ukraine's adoption of education amendments on 12 October, which met Hungary's condition for advancing the internal-market talks. Ukraine and Ireland's EU presidency aim to open the remaining two clusters before the end of 2026.