Ukraine has cleared the last obstacle Hungary put in the way of the next stage of its EU membership talks. On Monday the Verkhovna Rada passed draft law No. 16119 on education in minority languages, with 266 votes. It now goes to President Volodymyr Zelensky for signature.
Budapest had refused to let new negotiating clusters open until Kyiv started delivering on a bilateral deal on the rights of the Hungarian minority, agreed in May and June. Hungarian Foreign Minister Anita Orbán said the law is the result of that deal. The shift follows the April election win of Péter Magyar's Tisza party; his predecessor, Viktor Orbán, blocked Ukraine's talks for years.
Children from national minorities and indigenous peoples can study in their own language alongside Ukrainian, not instead of it. Ukrainian stays a guaranteed part of the curriculum. The extra rights apply to the official languages of the EU and to Ukraine's indigenous languages. They do not apply to Russian.
A general secondary school qualifies for minority status if more than half its pupils study in the minority language. Ukraine's education ministry estimates about 149 schools, roughly 1.2% of the total, could apply. Schools that hold the status must keep at least 20% of pupils in the minority language or lose it. Reorganising or closing a minority-status municipal school now needs ministry approval, a safeguard that could affect up to 141 schools in Zakarpattia, Chernivtsi, Odesa and Lviv regions. Heads of 29 private institutions already in post are exempt from the state-language certificate requirement for their tenure, though they must still know and use Ukrainian.
EU ambassadors preliminarily cleared the way on 7 October. Enlargement Commissioner Marta Kos said on 5 October that the next two clusters could open as early as this week's conferences in Luxembourg if the Rada passed the law. Ukraine's Deputy Prime Minister Vsevolod Chentsov said clusters two and three, on the internal market and on competitiveness and inclusive growth, could open on Tuesday.
Two clusters are already open for Ukraine: the fundamentals cluster, which covers democratic institutions and the rule of law, and external relations, opened in June and July. Kyiv wants all six open by the end of the year. The EU has politically linked Ukraine's and Moldova's bids, so Monday's vote also clears the way for Moldova's clusters.
Magyar said he expects the Hungarian minority's rights to be fully secured in practice, a reminder that Budapest has not given up its leverage.
Hungary's veto was the main thing standing between Ukraine and the middle of the negotiating process, and it is now gone. That does not make accession quick. Each cluster still needs unanimity to open, each closing benchmark needs unanimity again, and Hungary can point to the implementation of the law, not just its adoption, as a reason to hold things up later.
The 141 schools that now need ministry approval to restructure are the practical test. If minority schools in Zakarpattia are protected on the ground, Budapest loses its argument. If they are not, the veto can come back. For now, the process moves: the conference in Luxembourg on Tuesday is where it shows.
