Hungary and Ukraine strike deal on Hungarian minority rights, but Budapest still blocks fast-track EU accession

The agreement

Hungarian Prime Minister Peter Magyar announced on Wednesday, 3 June 2026, that Budapest and Kyiv had reached what he called a "historic agreement" on the rights of the Hungarian minority living in Ukraine. The deal covers the expansion of linguistic, educational, cultural, and political rights for the community, which numbers around 100,000 to 150,000 people, primarily in the western Transcarpathia region.

We have concluded a complete agreement with Ukraine on the expansion of the linguistic, educational, cultural and political rights of the Hungarian minority.

Magyar said the agreement was the result of several weeks of intense negotiations at the expert level, involving Hungarian and Ukrainian officials as well as political organisations and churches representing ethnic Hungarians in Transcarpathia. He noted the announcement came one day before Hungary's National Cohesion Day.

A shift from the Orbán era

The deal marks a sharp departure from the approach of Magyar's predecessor, Viktor Orbán, whose 16-year tenure saw relations with Kyiv deteriorate significantly. Magyar, who took office only last month after defeating Orbán, framed the agreement as a rapid diplomatic success.

In just three weeks we have managed to achieve what Viktor Orbán's team could not achieve in ten years.

Tensions between the two neighbours escalated in 2017 when Ukraine passed a law making Ukrainian the main language of secondary education. A further law in 2019 restricted the official use of Hungarian. Budapest had long argued these measures stripped tens of thousands of ethnic Hungarians of their rights.

EU accession implications

The breakthrough has immediate consequences for Ukraine's bid to join the European Union. Magyar confirmed that Ukraine's commitments will be included in its EU action plan. If Kyiv follows through, Hungary will support opening the first cluster of accession negotiation chapters.

Official accession negotiations for Ukraine and Moldova could begin as early as 15 June at an intergovernmental conference scheduled in Luxembourg. However, Magyar was categorical that Hungary still does not support accelerated EU membership talks for Ukraine.

If Ukraine manages to close all 33 accession chapters within 10 or 15 years, our country will hold a decisive referendum, with binding legal force, on this issue.

What changes for the minority

The Ukrainian government has committed to transposing the negotiated measures into its legal system in the near future. According to Magyar, this will provide ethnic Hungarians in Transcarpathia with significantly broader rights than before in education, culture, language use, and political participation. The region was part of the former Kingdom of Hungary until the end of the First World War.