The Hungarian Prime Minister has announced that he will make blocking Ukraine’s accession to the European Union a priority.
Viktor Orban said on Saturday that Ukraine was “light years away” of membership in the European Union, signaling once again that his government is likely to obstruct Kyiv’s ambitions to join the EU.
Speaking at a biannual congress of his nationalist Fidesz party, the prime minister said he and his government “would resist” (discussions planned for mid-December) to the idea of officially inviting Ukraine to begin accession negotiations.
Admission of a new country requires unanimous approval of all existing member countries, giving Hungary a powerful veto.
At the party congress in Budapest on Saturday, Viktor Orban was re-elected Fidesz president for the 11th consecutive time since 2003. He said that obstructing Ukraine’s EU membership would be one of the main priorities of his government in the months to come.
“Our task will be to correct the erroneous promise to start negotiations with Ukraine, because Ukraine is now light years away from the European Union”did he declare.
The Hungarian government launched a new national consultation on Friday aimed at “defend sovereignty” of the Central European country in the face of various positions of the European Union, of which it is a member.
“Brussels wants to establish migrant ghettos in Hungary. What do you think?”asks one of the 11 questions on the form published on the government’s Facebook page.
The nationalist Prime Minister is accustomed to this method without legal effect, which he has used regularly since 2015 to legitimize his anti-EU positions.
He explained last week that he hoped to receive a blank check for his policies in order to “hold on” in its battle with Brussels.
In addition to migration policy, the consultation addresses the issue of the war in neighboring Ukraine, with which Hungary maintains tense relations.
“Brussels wants to give more weapons and money to Ukraine”, “Brussels wants Ukraine to join the European Union”: the population is called upon to give its opinion on these points.
Member of NATO but close to the Kremlin, Budapest has refused to supply weapons to Kyiv since the start of the Russian invasion.
The issue of corruption in Ukraine
Another obstacle to Ukraine’s accession to the EU is persistent corruption. Several cases have broken out in recent months.
Demonstrators also gathered in the Ukrainian capital this Saturday to protest against corruption and demand the reallocation of public funds to the army.
