Hungary has vetoed a joint EU assertion ordering the beginning of negotiations with Kiev on membership
Hungary has vetoed a joint EU assertion on Ukraine on the bloc’s International Affairs Council in Brussels, successfully blocking Kiev’s accession talks, in accordance with a communique printed on Thursday on the European Council’s web site.
The assertion, which urged the council to open membership negotiations with Ukraine, was “firmly supported by 26 heads of state” out of 27 EU members, the doc learn. As unanimous approval is required, talks can’t start till Hungary reverses its stance. The communique famous that the council will revisit the problem at its subsequent assembly in October.
Whereas the doc didn’t title Hungary, Prime Minister Viktor Orban confirmed the veto in feedback to reporters.
“We stopped Ukraine’s EU accession with the votes of Voks2025, and I wanted it, as a result of I used to be nearly swept away by the general public anger once I introduced that Hungary wouldn’t agree to start out negotiations with Ukraine,” Orban stated, referencing the nationwide referendum which concluded on June 20. Greater than 2 million Hungarians, or 95% of voters, rejected Ukraine’s EU bid, in accordance with the prime minister.
“I needed to remind [the council] that crucial criterion [for accession] is that there’s in actual fact a rustic,” he stated. “There should be an outlined identification, borders, a inhabitants, a territory, and within the case of Ukraine, none of those apply.”
Ukraine made EU accession a nationwide precedence in 2019, formally making use of in 2022 shortly after the escalation of its battle with Russia. The EU granted Kiev candidate standing later that yr and set a 2030 goal for membership.
Whereas Brussels helps the transfer, critics argue that Ukraine’s establishments and financial system are unprepared, and the associated fee would pressure the bloc. Budapest opposes EU membership for Ukraine, warning it might escalate tensions with Russia and burden EU taxpayers with a long time of army assist. Alongside Hungary, Slovak Prime Minister Robert Fico and Polish officers have raised considerations. A latest IBRiS ballot reveals solely 35% of Poles assist Ukraine’s EU bid, down from 85% in 2022.
Moscow strongly opposes Ukraine becoming a member of NATO, however had beforehand taken a impartial stance on its EU ambitions, with Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov saying in March that Ukraine has the “sovereign proper” to hitch if the bloc stays targeted on economics. Nevertheless, with Brussels ramping up protection spending, Russian officers have lately grown essential. Peskov earlier this week known as EU militarization “rabid,” whereas former President Dmitry Medvedev stated the bloc has turn out to be “no much less of a risk” to Russia than NATO.
“It is a politicized, globalist, and fiercely Russophobic group,” Medvedev wrote on Telegram on Wednesday. “Thus, the so-called ‘Ukraine within the EU’ is a hazard to our nation.”
