The Minister of Foreign Affairs of Ukraine, Andriy Sybiha, stated that Hungary remains the only country blocking the opening of clusters within the framework of negotiations on Ukraine's accession to the European Union. He announced this after participating in the meeting of the EU Foreign Affairs Council during a conversation with journalists, reports UNN.
Details
Ukraine is doing its homework. We have completed the necessary procedures and are ready to open three clusters. During the meeting, I addressed our Hungarian colleagues with a direct proposal to resume consultations in order to speed up this process.
He emphasized that Ukraine has already implemented the highest standards of protection of the rights of national minorities and is ready to comply with all requirements of the EU and the Council of Europe in this area. According to him, no EU or NATO country has the right to abuse its status.
We have done everything. Today, only the Hungarian side is blocking. Therefore, the signal is very simple. Let's look for a diplomatic, constructive solution. We are ready for this, and accordingly, I proposed to continue this dialogue, which has already taken place.
In addition, Sybiha announced Ukraine's need for additional funding for the defense sector during the meeting.
I announced the deficit figure that exists today in order to fully utilize all the capacities of our defense sector. We are talking about 15 billion euros.
Let us remind you
Earlier, UNN wrote that, according to European Commissioner for Enlargement Marta Kos, the opening of the first cluster within the framework of Ukraine's EU accession negotiations may help overcome disagreements with Hungary, which is currently holding back Ukraine's European integration due to concerns about the rights of national minorities.