Ukraine yet to meet EU admission criteria - Hungarian minister

BERLIN. June 25 (Interfax) - Ukraine is far from meeting EU admission criteria, Hungarian Minister for European Union Affairs Janos Boka said on Tuesday, before the start of talks on the admission of Ukraine and Moldova to the European Union.

"It is very hard to tell what stage Ukraine is at. As far as I understand, it is very far from meeting EU admission criteria," EFE quoted Boka as saying.

Hungary has a list of 11 conditions it expects Kiev to meet, Boka said, adding that the most important condition is preserving the legal terms established in 2015 for the functioning of Hungarian minority institutions in Ukraine, especially cultural and educational establishments.

The first sessions of EU-Ukraine and EU-Moldova intergovernmental conferences, which signal the start of EU accession talks, will begin later on Tuesday.

According to the Belgian presidency of the Council of the European Union, the EU will offer Kiev and Chisinau "a general framework for key areas and principles of the accession negotiations," following the approval of the EU's common stance by the Council of the European Union on June 21, 2024.

EU High Representative for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy Josep Borrell said at a press conference in Luxembourg on Monday that the intergovernmental conferences were about to begin and were a path to the European Union, which will finally guarantee the security of the candidate countries.

The EU granted candidate status to Ukraine and Moldova in June 2022.

On June 7, the European Commission said Ukraine and Moldova had met every preliminary condition for launching official negotiations.

The European Commission demanded that Kiev fight corruption and the influence of the oligarchs, and give more attention to the position of ethnic minorities, which Hungary insisted on in particular, given the presence of a Hungarian community in Ukraine. The reason for this was Budapest's objections to the beginning of official EU-Kiev talks.

When commenting on the approval of intergovernmental conferences with Ukraine and Moldova by the Council of the European Union, media outlets in certain EU members said that negotiations were just one stage of the long accession process.