Ukraine files a minority-schooling bill, and Hungary agrees to unblock two of its EU-accession clusters

On October 1st, Ukraine's parliament introduced a bill aimed at lifting Hungary's block on the country's European Union membership talks, according to Ukrinform. This move comes first from Kyiv, with Budapest subsequently agreeing to allow the EU to advance the stalled accession process. Hungary's government endorsed the bill within a day of its registration.

Ukraine's path to EU membership hinges on unanimous votes, so a single member state's leverage can stall the entire queue. Kyiv is attempting to unblock the clusters one by one before the current progress window closes. A timely swap between the capitals, confirmed by unnamed sources, saw them move in parallel following a public standoff, each unwilling to take the lead without trust.

Upon registering and passing the bill, Ukraine is set to receive the necessary requests from the Council of the EU presidency to open two negotiating clusters on October 6th. The Rada plans to adopt the bill in an extraordinary session on October 12th, with a Council of the EU decision expected on October 13th, ahead of a European Council summit two days later.

Deputy Prime Minister Vsevolod Chentsov emphasized that rebuilding trust requires tangible actions from both governments. The bill introduces a national minority school status, granting a school the official minority school label if more than half of its students (50% plus one) study in a national-minority language that is also an official EU language. Ukrainian will remain the language of instruction, and the bill does not reintroduce Russian into classrooms.

The legislation extends to Ukraine's indigenous peoples, such as the Crimean Tatars, and waives a Ukrainian-language certificate requirement for the heads of 29 private schools, as long as they remain in their positions. Education committee head Serhii Babak stated that this solution safeguards Ukrainian while fulfilling an EU accession commitment.

In Budapest, Hungarian Prime Minister Péter Magyar expressed that the bill strengthens legal guarantees for Hungarian-language education and the school network, expecting those rights to be honored in practice. European Pravda framed the outcome as a victory for Magyar's voters, claiming that the previous government failed to secure these rights.

Hungarian Foreign Minister Anita Orbán highlighted that the new government has achieved more for the Hungarian minority in Zakarpattia in a few months than the previous cabinet did in ten years. Magyar's administration agreed in June to open the first accession cluster but had previously slowed the rest, only recently abandoning Orbán-style unconditional blocking. This bill is intended to free the next two negotiation clusters.