The Czech Republic opposes a potential decoupling of Ukraine from the Republic of Moldova in the negotiation process for accession to the European Union. The statement belongs to the Czech foreign minister, Jan Lipavský, and was made during a conference held together with his Ukrainian counterpart, Andrii Sybiha, in Kiev, reports IPN.
During his visit to Kiev, Jan Lipavský stated that his country supports the swift opening of the first negotiation cluster for Ukraine’s accession to the EU. The official mentioned that the Czech Republic will not support a potential, and in his opinion unnecessary, decoupling of Ukraine from Moldova.
The opening of the first negotiation cluster with both Chisinau and Kiev was expected in the first half of this year. This did not happen due to Hungary’s veto. Budapest claims that there is a lack of rights for the Hungarian-speaking minority in Ukraine.
As the Republic of Moldova and Ukraine are “coupled” in the negotiation process, this deadlock also affects Chisinau. There were talks in April about decoupling the two countries so that at least Moldova could move forward in the process. Later, EU enlargement commissioner Marta Kos confirmed that both countries continue to move together towards EU membership.
Nevertheless, the EU believes in the possibility of overturning Hungary’s veto shortly after the commencement of Denmark’s presidency in the European Council, thus this scenario has been avoided for now. At the beginning of its term, Denmark promised maximum pressure on Hungary to unblock the launch of negotiations with Ukraine.