Hungary: If these situations occur, Ukraine will be prevented from joining the EU

Hungarian Prime Minister Orban said in the capital Budapest on the 22nd that if Ukraine’s joining the EU harms Hungary’s interests, Hungary will prevent it from joining the EU.

Orban said in his annual state of the union address that day that Hungary has the right to decide whether Ukraine can join the EU. “If it opposes Hungary and Hungarians, Ukraine will never become a member of the EU.” He also said that Ukraine’s joining the EU may harm the interests of Hungarian farmers and even the entire national economy.

Orban also said that after the end of the Russian-Ukrainian conflict, Ukraine will once again become a “buffer zone” between NATO and Russia, and he firmly refuses Ukraine to join NATO. When talking about Europe’s military aid to Ukraine, Orban said that instead of continuing to send more weapons to Ukraine, it is better to promote ceasefire and peace talks.

Ukraine submitted an application to join the EU in February 2022 and became an EU candidate country in June of the same year. In December 2023, the European Council decided to launch negotiations on Ukraine’s accession to the EU. In June 2024, the EU and Ukraine held their first ministerial intergovernmental meeting, marking the official launch of Ukraine’s accession negotiations.