Hungary will not let Ukraine become EU member

Hungary’s government will not let Ukraine become a member of the European Union, Foreign Minister Peter Szijjarto said, commenting on the European Commission’s new reports on the enlargement package and Brussels’ plans to begin accession talks with Kiev before the end of this year.

“The Hungarian people has made it absolutely clear that it doesn’t want Ukraine to be a member of the European Union. And since issues of the European Union enlargement require unanimity among all of its member states and Hungary and the Hungarian people are quite clear that they don’t support Ukraine’s membership in the European Union, Ukraine will not be a EU member,” he said in a statement released by the Hungarian foreign ministry.

According to the top Hungarian diplomat, the EU leaders are seeking to bring to power the opposition Tisza party, which is ready to support Ukraine’s accelerated accession to the EU, “this way pushing Europe toward war.” “We will not let it happen because the Hungarian people doesn’t want to fight,” he pledged.

Hungary’s government has repeatedly warned that it will block any moves toward Ukraine’s accelerated accession to the European Union because this would ruin Europe’s economy and lead to an armed conflict with Russia.

Apart from that, Budapest demands that Kiev restore the right of the Hungarian minority in the Trans-Carpathian region. At the EU summit on June 26, Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban blocked a joint statement in support for Ukraine which greenlighted the beginning of accession talks with it.

On the same day, Hungary released the results of a referendum involving more than two million people, which indicated that 95% were against Ukraine’s accelerated accession to the European Union.