Hungary Blocks Ukraine, Moldova EU Accession Talks on Internal Market Reforms

BRUSSELS, July 24. /TASS/. During a technical meeting on Wednesday, Hungary blocked further procedural steps in the negotiations on Ukraine and Moldova’s accession to the European Union, which will prevent them from beginning formal negotiations on reforms related to the internal market and competitiveness, the Euractiv news porta reported, citing diplomats and officials.

According to the portal, amid the lack of a breakthrough in the negotiations, no progress is possible until September 1, when the next technical meeting will be held.

When beginning talks with Ukraine and Moldova on the cluster of the EU’s fundamental values in June, the European Commission revealed plans to engage in consultations on the rest of the clusters in July.

The EU accession process includes 33 negotiating chapters grouped into six clusters. Admission talks are meant to synchronize a candidate country’s legislation with that of the European Union. Such talks typically take more than ten years, with no strict timeframes for that. For instance, Montenegro, which may be admitted to the EU next year, has been in talks for 14 years, while Turkey engaged in such talks in 2005 and has not yet been admitted to the European Union and has little chance to do that in the foreseeable future.