BUDAPEST (Portal) – Hungary will resist any proposal from the European Union (EU) to start negotiations on Ukraine’s admission to the bloc, Prime Minister Viktor Orban’s chief of staff said.
“We are faced with a completely premature proposal and our nation cannot contribute to a joint decision on inviting Ukraine to start the accession process to the Union,” said Gergely Gulyas.
Gulyas said it was too early to start formal talks with Kyiv on the war-torn country’s entry into the EU and Budapest would not support starting talks when community leaders meet at a summit in Brussels in December.
He added that Hungary would also not support proposed changes to the EU budget that include long-term aid to Kyiv.
On February 28, 2022, Ukraine officially applied for membership in the Community bloc, four days after the start of the Russian special military operation at the request of the self-proclaimed republics of Luhansk and Donetsk to protect the population of these regions in Donbass.
The European Commission gave its opinion on the Slavic country’s EU membership application on June 17 last year, after which the European Council granted Kiev candidate status.
In December last year, the Ukrainian parliament adopted several draft laws recommended by the European Commission to advance the country’s accession process to the regional body. (Text and photo: PL)