First accession cluster with Ukraine has been opened in exchange for empty promises

Members of the European Parliament debated the European Commission’s 2025 Report on Ukraine during the July plenary session. In her speech, Viktória Ferenc, MEP of Fidesz–KDNP and member of the Patriots for Europe Group, emphasized: “You welcome the agreement on the restoration of rights. But let us not pretend that this is really about minority rights. Rather, empty promises paved the way for the opening of the first accession cluster with Ukraine. If national minorities truly matter to you, then you should work to ensure that Ukraine’s Minority Action Plan contains clear, public, and enforceable commitments regarding the full restoration of minority rights, because the currently available version does not do so.”

Viktória Ferenc pointed out: “I was born in Transcarpathia to a Hungarian family. I know the Hungarian community living there well, its members are loyal and law-abiding citizens of Ukraine. They condemn Russian aggression and are also bearing the burdens of the war. Hungarian-speaking soldiers are serving on the front line, and more than one hundred of them have already given their lives in defence of Ukraine. Yet since 2017, this community has been subjected to a continuous erosion of its minority rights. For nearly a decade, you have stood by and watched as these rights were gradually dismantled, while our warnings were met with indifference.”

“Minorities do not ask for promises, they ask for guarantees. Guarantees that no one can tell them that they cannot speak their mother tongue, even during school breaks or at sporting events.” – added the MEP of Transcarpathian origin.

“The report states that enlargement must remain strictly merit-based. I agree with that principle. The Copenhagen criteria are not recommendations but mandatory conditions for accession, and Ukraine must fully comply with them as well,” the MEP concluded her speech.