Formal EU accession negotiations between Moldova and Ukraine could start on June 25, Politico reports. European officials have set the goal and are actively working on persuading the Hungarian government to give the green light.
Five European diplomats told the publication’s journalists on condition of anonymity about such circumstances. The source indicates that Orban’s government opposes negotiations with Ukraine, while Brussels suggests launching the potential negotiations could boost Ukrainian morale.
One of Politco’s journalists’ interlocutors says Budapest wants to get the issue of Ukraine’s EU accession talks out of the way before it takes over the six-month rotating presidency of the EU Council, with no official decisions announced yet in the run-up to the June Europarliamentary elections. Such actions could create electoral problems, he says.
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An intergovernmental conference of EU leaders will be on June 25, shortly before Budapest takes over the EU Council presidency on July 1. Community officials, however, assert that the unpredictability of any scenario persists until Orban resolves the controversy over negotiations with Ukraine.