Hungary calls Ukraine's EU accession by 2030 unrealistic
Hungarian Foreign Minister Anita Orbán says a 2030 membership date for Kyiv is not achievable, while her Lithuanian counterpart argues a target should be set.
By Yuki Kaminski ·
Hungary does not believe Ukraine can realistically join the European Union by 2030, Foreign Minister Anita Orbán said during a visit to Vilnius, European Pravda reported, citing Lithuanian broadcaster LRT.
Orbán was responding to a question about whether Ukraine could become a member state by the end of the decade. She said her government does not consider that timeframe realistic, adding that Budapest strongly supports a merit-based enlargement process and believes it is in agreement with Lithuania on that point.
The Hungarian minister insisted that all candidate countries must meet the same requirements, ruling out any accelerated accession procedure for Kyiv. She stressed that every country has to go through the same process that Hungary once did and said Budapest does not support a fast-track path for Ukraine.
At the same time, Orbán acknowledged that Ukraine has made significant progress in the accession process, noting that four out of six negotiating clusters have already been opened. She attributed part of that progress to the improvement of relations between Hungary and Ukraine, as well as to an agreement on protecting the rights of the Hungarian national minority in the Zakarpattia region.
Lithuanian Foreign Minister Kęstutis Budrys expressed considerably more optimism about the prospects of Ukraine joining the bloc by 2030, saying a target date for membership should be established. He argued that accession by the end of the decade is theoretically possible if Ukraine implements the necessary reforms quickly enough and the European Union completes the required stages of the process on time.
Budrys said Vilnius believes it is still possible to complete all processes by 2030, provided that the European Union manages to act quickly enough and that Ukraine carries out the reforms demanded of it.
The European Commission recently stated that Ukraine could complete accession negotiations by the end of 2028 if it accelerates the pace of its reforms, a timeline that would leave room for membership before the decade closes.
The EU has also published its 2026 Enlargement Package, in which Ukraine was named among the leaders of European integration, underscoring Kyiv's comparatively strong standing among candidate countries.
In addition, the European Commission may present the EU Council with an Interim Benchmark Assessment Report on the rule of law regarding Ukraine in the first half of 2027, provided Kyiv accelerates its reform efforts.
