Polish Foreign Minister Radosław Sikorski has confirmed that Hungary is blocking the decision on Ukraine's accession talks and called on the opposition in Poland to influence them.

Source:Sikorski after a meeting of EU foreign ministers on 17 March, European Pravda reports, citing Onet

Details:Sikorski stressed that the opening of negotiation clusters for Ukraine is "another issue where decision-making is blocked by our old friend, once an ally, the Republic of Hungary".

He said that during the meeting, the heads of EU diplomacy said that the conditionality of the decision to start negotiations "should not depend on bilateral issues, but on the fulfilment of criteria".

"I have to make a ritual appeal to the Polish opposition, which maintains close ideological contacts with the government and the party of Viktor Orbán, to do something good for Poland and Europe – namely, to convince their ideological brothers to unblock these issues," the Polish foreign minister said.

He drew attention to reports that the Polish organisation Ordo Iuris, together with the Hungarians, allegedly plans to advise the US administration "on how to dismantle Europe".

"I would like to ask the Polish opposition what they think about this initiative, whether it serves Polish interests to have the European Union paralysed, reduced to a group of mutual discussions," the Polish minister asked.

Background: 

• This year, the European Commission announced ambitious plans to open three clusters of negotiations between Ukraine and the EU before the end of the Polish presidency in June 2025.
• However, in mid-February, it became known that Hungary had blocked the opening of the first negotiation cluster and demanded to expand the list of requirements for Ukraine.

Read also: Easing martial law, reforms by 2027: what the EU expects of Ukraine on its path to membership

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