EU opens two more accession clusters for Ukraine after Hungary drops veto
The EU opened two more negotiating clusters with Ukraine on Tuesday, 13 October 2026, after Hungary withdrew its objections over a minority-education law passed by Kyiv's parliament.
Two more clusters open
The European Union opened two more negotiating clusters with Ukraine on Tuesday, 13 October 2026. The clusters are the internal market, which is meant to prepare Ukraine for joining the bloc's common market, and competitiveness with inclusive growth. They require Kyiv to put EU rules on employment, company law, intellectual property and the regulation and supervision of banks into practice. The member states had agreed on Monday, 12 October, when all 27 approved opening the second and third clusters for Ukraine and Moldova. Two more clusters with Moldova were also due to open on Tuesday.
Hungary's veto and the minority-education law
Hungary had blocked the opening of these clusters four times, and its last refusal came on 8 September, when Budapest did not say which legislative steps it expected from Kyiv. An earlier position from 1 September made any lifting of the veto conditional on Kyiv showing progress in protecting the rights of the Hungarian minority in Zakarpattia. The breakthrough came after Ukraine's parliament, the Rada Najwyższa, adopted amendments widening minority education rights and creating a special status for general secondary schools where most pupils study in a minority language that is also an official EU language. According to estimates, around 149 schools, or about 1.2% of all secondary schools in Ukraine, could meet those criteria. The provision does not extend to the Russian language.
- Hungary says it will lift the veto only if Kyiv shows progress on Hungarian minority rights in Zakarpattia
- Hungary blocks the clusters for the fourth time without specifying the steps it expects from Kyiv
- All 27 EU member states unanimously agree to open clusters 2 and 3 for Ukraine and Moldova, hours after Kyiv passes the minority-education amendments
- The EU opens the two clusters for Ukraine, and two clusters with Moldova are due to open
Ukraine's negotiating steps ahead
Heorhij Tychyj, the spokesman for Ukraine's foreign ministry, told Europejska Prawda that the two sides negotiate almost every day with EU participation so as to avoid artificial delays. Kyiv and Budapest are therefore still in contact over the next steps, according to that account. In June, Volodymyr Zelenskyy and Peter Magyar sealed an agreement, though the sources give no further detail on its terms. Before Tuesday, only two of the six clusters were open, namely the fundamentals cluster and the cluster on foreign and security policy.
What remains open
The two clusters still closed cover climate and agriculture, and the sources say agriculture questions sit within the remaining areas. Opening the clusters brings Ukraine closer to starting negotiations in every thematic area, the step the sources describe as the final stretch of the process. The sources do not give a date for opening the remaining two clusters. For Moldova, the two clusters opened alongside Ukraine's mark a parallel step in its own accession talks.