Ukraine's parliament passes minority rights law as two new EU accession chapters set to open
Ukraine's parliament approved legislation strengthening national minorities' rights on Monday with 266 votes in favour, and President Volodymyr Zelensky signed it into law the same day. The law is expected to clear the way for two additional EU negotiating chapters to open at an intergovernmental conference in Luxembourg on Tuesday, with diplomats expecting Hungary to lift its veto on a further two clusters covering the internal market and competitiveness.
Key points
- Ukrainian parliament approved the national minorities law by 266 of 450 votes on Monday.
- President Volodymyr Zelensky signed the bill into law the same day.
- The law guarantees children from national minorities whose languages are official EU languages the right to education in their mother tongue alongside the state language.
- Schools can be granted national-minority status if more than half of pupils study in the corresponding language.
- The EU is scheduled to open two new negotiation chapters with Ukraine at a conference in Luxembourg on Tuesday.
- Diplomats expect Hungary to drop its veto on two additional clusters covering the internal market and competitiveness.
- European Council President António Costa said he hoped to open the remaining clusters as soon as possible.
Why it matters
The law removes the long-standing minority rights dispute that had blocked Ukraine's EU accession progress since 2023, opening the door to two new negotiating chapters on Tuesday and potentially two further clusters once Hungary lifts its veto. It also marks a significant warming in Budapest-Kyiv relations under Prime Minister Péter Magyar, whose government had conditioned further progress on exactly this kind of legislation. For Kyiv, momentum on EU accession is intertwined with its broader security strategy, including its NATO membership bid.
What happened
On Monday, Ukraine's parliament, the Verkhovna Rada, passed legislation strengthening the rights of national minorities by 266 votes out of 450. President Volodymyr Zelensky signed the bill into law the same day. The law guarantees children from national minorities whose languages are official EU languages the right to be educated in their mother tongue alongside the state language, and allows schools where more than half of pupils study in a minority language to receive national-minority status. The following day, the EU was scheduled to open two new accession negotiation chapters at an intergovernmental conference in Luxembourg. Diplomats expected Hungary, which had linked further progress to Kyiv formally adopting minority rights legislation, to drop its veto on two additional clusters dealing with the internal market and competitiveness. European Council President António Costa welcomed the decision to open further clusters and expressed his aspiration to open the remaining ones as soon as possible.
Background
Ukraine's EU accession requires the completion of 35 negotiating chapters and unanimous approval of all 27 member states, with ratification carried out either by parliament or via referendum. Hungary's previous government under Viktor Orbán had blocked Ukraine's accession progress since 2023 over the status of roughly 100,000 ethnic Hungarians living in Transcarpathia. Hungary's new prime minister, Péter Magyar, agreed an 11-point action plan with Ukraine in June and lifted the veto on the first two negotiating clusters. Kyiv frames EU membership as a security guarantee alongside its NATO membership aspiration, while Orbán's recent election campaign featured strong anti-Ukraine rhetoric portraying Kyiv as a threat to European security.