Hungary Blocks Ukraine's EU Accession Clusters for a Third Time Despite June Minority-Rights Deal

At a September 1 meeting of the European Council's Working Party on Enlargement, Hungary again refused to approve screening results for Ukraine's EU accession negotiating clusters 2 (internal market) and 3 (competitiveness and inclusive growth), the third such block since talks began. Budapest agreed only to approve cluster 3 for Moldova — an option effectively separating Ukraine's and Moldova's accession paths that most member states, led by Ireland's Council presidency, oppose. The move comes despite PM Péter Magyar's June 3 'historic agreement' with Kyiv on educational, cultural, linguistic and political rights for Ukraine's roughly 100,000-strong Hungarian minority in Transcarpathia, which had unblocked the first cluster. Magyar said 'there are six clusters in total, and we don't think opening them all at once is a good idea,' tying further unblocking to continued minority-rights progress. A Brussels source said the underlying dynamic is 'unchanged' from Hungary's July block. The episode shows Magyar's government, despite reversing Orbán's blanket veto on Ukraine aid and NATO cooperation, is maintaining leverage over Kyiv's EU membership timeline — a policy continuity that has drawn criticism from Ukraine and some EU capitals.