The EU wants to start negotiations on Ukraine’s accession before Hungary’s presidency begins in July.

On May 29, representatives from 27 European governments discussed the draft framework for negotiations on the accession of Ukraine and Moldova to the EU. As Politico writes, time is of the essence because the Europeans in Brussels have to start negotiations before Hungary’s EU presidency begins on July 1.

According to the European Commission’s report on Ukraine, Kyiv still needs to implement some reforms, although Ukrainian government officials have completed most of their “homework”. Few in Europe want to wait for another report confirming Ukraine’s progress, because the commissioner in charge of enlargement, Hungarian Oliver Varhelyi, can delay the process.

Hungary has already tried to block the approval of the draft negotiation framework for Ukraine’s accession to the EU due to 11 bilateral issues regarding national minorities. At the same time, Moldova also suffers since the EU is considering the issue of the accession of both states simultaneously.