Hungarian Prime Minister Peter Magyar and European Parliament President Roberta Metsola have agreed that the long-running Article 7 procedure against Hungary should be concluded by autumn, marking a potential turning point in the EU’s rule-of-law dispute with Budapest, Magyar announced in a Facebook post. 

The issue was discussed during a meeting between the two leaders, ahead of the first EU summit in 16 years at which Hungary was not represented by Viktor Orban.

The EP launched the Article 7 process in 2018 following a report by Dutch MEP Judith Sargentini, which raised concerns about breaches of EU values and democratic standards in Hungary. 

The mechanism, often referred to as the EU’s "nuclear option" can, in theory, lead to the suspension of a member state’s voting rights, but the procedure has stalled for years. Although hearings have been held in the Council of the EU, no decisive steps have been taken due to insufficient support among member states.

After the meeting, Magyar said the Article 7 procedure could be concluded in October, following the landmark political agreement with the EU executive in late May that included several anti-corruption measures by the government, reported Index.hu.

Magyar invited Metsola to visit Hungary and confirmed that he will address a plenary session of the EP later this year.

He framed the talks as part of a broader reset in Hungary’s relationship with EU institutions after years of conflict between Brussels and the previous Orbán administration.

Metsola said the Parliament is currently assessing whether there are grounds to close the file and if the Hungarian government’s recent reforms meet the criteria for ending the procedure. She called the talks constructive but stressed that formally closing the case would still require the necessary institutional steps.

The European Commission has in the past acknowledged some of Budapest's recent measures, while also underlining that implementing reforms will take time. It has also made clear that the Article 7 procedure is separate from the dispute over frozen EU funds, which is based on specific conditionality benchmarks and financial compliance rules rather than a general assessment of democratic standards.

Magyar’s government is seeking to resolve both tracks in parallel, as securing access to EU funding remains a key economic priority.

Analysts note that the timing of any closure of Article 7 could also be influenced by broader EU negotiations on budgetary and rule-of-law conditionality frameworks.

EU Commissioner for Democracy, Justice, the Rule of Law and Consumer Protection, Michael McGrath, praised the government’s clear commitment to restoring the rule of law but said implementing numerous reforms will take time, and the EC will rigorously monitor the fulfilment of all conditions.

On the margins of the EU summit, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy briefly spoke with the new prime minister, their first encounter since Magyar took power. There has been no official statement released on their discussion; local media reports that the two may have discussed some details of the location of their first official meeting.

Budapest has reportedly suggested Berehove, pointing to its symbolic importance as the centre of the Hungarian community in Transcarpathia. Kyiv, however, is opposed to holding the first official summit there and prefers another location, with Kyiv or Lviv mentioned as possible alternatives, Karpatalja.ma, a Hungarian-language news site opéerationg in western Ukraine writes.

Addressing EU leaders at the summit, Zelenskiy called for sustained backing for Ukraine’s membership bid and said a "fast-track path" could be the most significant step forward, while acknowledging that such an approach would not have unanimous support within the bloc.

EU ambassadors had already agreed to advance accession talks with both Ukraine and Moldova, launching work on the first of six negotiation clusters designed to align national legislation with EU standards.

However, Hungary opposed language suggesting an accelerated accession timeline. Prime Minister Magyar said Budapest succeeded in removing references to fast-tracking Ukraine’s EU membership from the European Council’s final statement. 

The adopted text instead welcomed the opening of accession talks and noted that further clusters would be launched in line with the merit-based approach. The Tisza Party’s election programme on Ukraine saw Magyar seem to follow Fidesz's footsteps in many ways, as the centre-right party is also opposed to Ukraine's fast-tracked accession.

Despite these similarities, Fidesz said in a statement that Magyar had abandoned Hungary’s neutrality in the Ukraine-Russia war and joined the group of countries supporting Kyiv. It also argued that the launch of Ukraine’s EU accession talks would deal a serious blow to Hungary’s economy and security.

Fidesz further claimed that the prime minister had also dropped Hungary’s stance on migration and had not confirmed that the country would refuse to implement the EU migration pact.  

Budapest and Kyiv reached a major comprehensive political agreement earlier this month. Hungary agreed to lift its long-standing veto on Ukraine's EU accession process after being given guarantees that the language rights of ethnic Hungarians would be expanded. The agreement paved the way for the opening of fundamental clusters for Ukraine and Moldova.

On the sidelines of the EU summit in Brussels, Magyar also met with his Croatian counterpart, Andrej Plenkovic. 

"In a good-neighbourly atmosphere, we want to resolve outstanding issues in the energy sector and further strengthen relations between Croatia and Hungary. We also agreed to hold a bilateral meeting in Zagreb or Budapest in the coming months," Plenkovic wrote on X.

Croatia and Hungary are seeking to resolve issues in the energy sector, including ownership disputes over management rights in Croatian oil and gas company INA and Hungarian company MOL, and the delivery of crude via the Adriatic pipeline.