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EU Enlargement Commissioner Marta Kos praises Ukraine for combatting corruption, but warns there is more work to do.<\/em><\/p>\n<\/div>\n Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy says his country has urged Hungary to stop blocking Kyiv\u2019s bid to join the European Union, as Brussels backed advancing the war-torn country to the next stage despite corruption concerns.<\/p>\n The European Commission, the EU\u2019s executive branch, presented a series of enlargement reports Tuesday, evaluating the fitness of possible new members, including Ukraine, Serbia and Montenegro. When presenting the reports, EU Enlargement Commissioner Marta Kos praised Ukraine for combatting corruption but warned there was more work to do.<\/p>\n list of 3 items<\/span>end of list<\/span><\/section>\n Earlier this year, Zelenskyy\u2019s ruling party pushed amendments through parliament that gave the president\u2019s hand-picked general prosecutor the power to transfer cases away from the National Anti-Corruption Bureau (NABU) and the Specialized Anti-Corruption Prosecutor\u2019s Office (SAPO) and reassign prosecutors.<\/p>\n Parliament ultimately voted to restore the independence of the two key anticorruption agencies following some of the biggest protests held in Ukraine since the Russian invasion began in February 2022, as well as pressure from key European officials.<\/p>\n The EU on Tuesday warned Ukraine of \u201cbacksliding\u201d on anticorruption efforts, saying only \u201climited progress\u201d had been made on combatting the issue. The commission noted that the agencies and civil society groups report growing pressure from the state and security services, saying \u201cThese developments cast doubts on Ukraine\u2019s commitment to its anticorruption agenda.\u201d<\/p>\n Despite lingering questions on Kyiv\u2019s work to end corruption, Kos told the commission she wants approval for Ukraine and Moldova to press on with formal negotiations.<\/p>\n \u201cWe have implemented the widest, the broadest anticorruption infrastructure in Europe,\u201d Zelenskyy told Brussels Tuesday. \u201cAnd I don\u2019t know about any country who has that many anticorruption authorities. We are doing everything possible.\u201d<\/p>\n Ukraine hopes to conclude accession talks by the end of 2028.<\/p>\n But one big obstacle remains in Ukraine\u2019s path: Hungary\u2019s Russia-friendly Prime Minister Viktor Orban.<\/p>\n As Hungary gears up for national elections in 2026, Orban\u2019s staunchly nationalist government has made efforts to block Ukraine\u2019s EU membership a political talking point.<\/p>\n \u201cLet\u2019s be under no illusions: Brussels and Ukraine are jointly building up a puppet government [in Hungary],\u201d Orban said in June. \u201cThey want to change Hungary\u2019s policy towards Ukraine after the next elections, or even sooner.\u201d<\/p>\n While Orban initially supported Ukraine\u2019s eventual EU accession shortly after Russia launched its full-scale invasion of Ukraine, he\u2019s come to argue that its membership would flood Hungary with crime, cheap labour, and low-quality agricultural products, threatening national sovereignty and economic stability.<\/p>\n \u201cWe are at war for our survival, and we would really like the prime minister of Hungary to support us, at least not block us,\u201d Zelenskyy said Tuesday at an event hosted by broadcaster Euronews.<\/p>\n The EU has been criticised for its slow decision-making, with national vetoes wielded by Hungary jamming up the process.<\/p>\n \u201cIf the candidate states are delivering, and I have proof with this report that they are delivering, then the EU should deliver, too,\u201d Kos said.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n EU Enlargement Commissioner Marta Kos praises Ukraine for combatting corruption, but warns there is more work to do. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy says his country has urged Hungary to stop blocking Kyiv\u2019s bid to join the European Union, as Brussels backed advancing the war-torn country to the next stage despite corruption concerns. The European Commission, […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":1100,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1099","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-europe-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/inernews.online\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1099","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/inernews.online\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/inernews.online\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/inernews.online\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/inernews.online\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=1099"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/inernews.online\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1099\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/inernews.online\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/1100"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/inernews.online\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=1099"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/inernews.online\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=1099"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/inernews.online\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=1099"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}Recommended Stories <\/h2>\n
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