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- INTEREST37.00%-1.00
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- October 16, 202612°
- BIST10011,722-2.89%
- USD49.42+0.06%
- EUR55.41+0.20%
- GOLD4,180.40+0.25%
- INTEREST37.00%-1.00
- BITCOIN81,586-0.66%
- October 16, 202612°
Hungary’s Magyar: Ukraine’s EU accession could take 15-20 years, “look at Türkiye”
Hungarian Prime Minister Péter Magyar said in Brussels that Ukraine’s path to EU membership could take 15 or 20 years, pointing to Türkiye, which he said wanted to join for decades but no longer really does.
Hungarian Prime Minister Péter Magyar, speaking to reporters in Brussels ahead of an EU leaders’ summit, said Ukraine’s accession to the European Union could take 15 or 20 years.
"Look at Türkiye: they wanted to join the EU for decades, and now they don’t really want to anymore," Magyar said, referring to the length of accession talks.
Budapest’s hard line
Magyar, who came to power after winning elections in spring 2026, made opposition to fast-track membership for Ukraine a central plank of his campaign. He has said Hungary could back Ukraine’s membership if Kyiv closes all 33 negotiating chapters within 10 to 15 years and Hungarians approve it in a binding referendum.
At the June EU summit, Magyar secured the removal of language on accelerating Ukraine’s accession from the conclusions, and in September he said Ukraine was not ready to join. Budapest has also halted approval of the second and third negotiating clusters.
Türkiye became an EU candidate in 1999 and opened accession talks in 2005, but the process has effectively been frozen since 2018.
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