Ukrainian Foreign Minister Andrii Sybiha on Thursday thanked Cyprus for its efforts to advance the process of his country’s accession to the European Union, with it looking increasingly likely that the bloc could give the green light for accession negotiations to begin as early as this month.

“Thank you to the Cyprus presidency for its leadership in advancing Ukraine’s EU accession process,” he wrote in a post on social media, with the island having held the Council of the EU’s rotating presidency since the beginning of the year.

He also thanked “all EU member states, the European Commission, and EU institutions for their unwavering support”, before making special reference to Hungary, which looks likely to drop its veto on the opening of negotiations with Ukraine after reaching an agreement regarding the rights of ethnic Hungarians living in the country’s west.

“I also appreciate Hungary’s constructive engagement. We are opening a new chapter in Ukraine-Hungary relations – one built on respect, trust, and our shared European future. Ukraine is moving forward,” he said.

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Hungarian Prime Minister Peter Magyar had on Wednesday announced that a “comprehensive agreement” had been reached, “expanding the linguistic, educational, cultural, and political rights of the more than 100,000 members of the Hungarian minority in Transcarpathia”.

He added that the Ukrainian government “has committed to incorporating the agreed measures into the legal system in the near future”, and that “as a result, the Hungarian minority will enjoy significantly broader educational, cultural, linguistic, and political rights than before”.

“These commitments will also be included in Ukraine’s action plan submitted to the European Union. If this happens, the Hungarian government will support the opening of Ukraine’s first accession cluster,” he said.

The news comes after Cypriot European Affairs Deputy Minister Marilena Raouna had told the Cyprus Mail that she was “cautiously optimistic” that the EU’s 27 member states could reach an agreement to commence accession negotiations with both Ukraine and Moldova this month.

“Enlargement remains one of the key priorities of the Cyprus presidency of the Council of the EU and we are working hard to this end. Nothing has been concluded yet, but we are cautiously optimistic that at the next general affairs council, we may reach an agreement to open ‘cluster one’,” she said.

An agreement to open negotiations for a candidate country to accede to the EU requires unanimity among member states, with all 27 therefore required to agree if the question is put to them at the next general affairs council in Brussels on June 16.

Negotiations are divided into six thematic clusters –  “fundamentals”, “internal market”, “competitiveness and inclusive growth”, “green agenda and sustainable connectivity”, “resources, agriculture, and cohesion”, and “external relations”.

The first cluster, which may be opened for Moldova and Ukraine next month, comprises seven chapters – “judiciary and fundamental rights”, “justice, freedom, and security”, “public procurement”, “statistics”, “financial control”, “economic criteria”, “functioning of democratic institutions”, and “public administration reform”.

Per EU law, it is the last negotiating cluster to be closed, despite being the first to be opened. 

In total, there are 33 chapters across the seven clusters, with current candidate member states finding themselves at various stages of progress in negotiations.

Montenegro and Albania have both opened all 33 chapters, with Montenegro having completed 14 and Albania yet to complete any, while Serbia has opened 22 chapters and competed two, and Turkey has opened 16 chapters and completed one, though negotiations with the latter have been frozen since 2016.

It has now been almost 13 years since Croatia, the last country to join the EU, did so in 2013, and in the intervening years, one member state, the United Kingdom, has left the bloc. 

This period between new member states’ joining is the longest since the 20 and a half years between the creation of the European Coal and Steel Community in 1952 and the accession of Denmark, Ireland and the UK to the European Communities in 1973.