Tough issues to clear before EU membership talks with Ukraine -Hungary’s Orban

On Friday, the Prime Minister of Hungary, Viktor Orban, stated that “very difficult questions” need to be solved before the European Union can even begin membership discussions with Ukraine. He made this statement in Budapest.

In December, member states of the EU are scheduled to decide whether or not to permit Ukraine to start membership discussions, a move that would require the unanimous support of all 27 members. Diplomats have suggested that Hungary may be a challenge.

“We cannot avoid the question – when during the autumn we will have negotiations in Brussels about the future of Ukraine – whether we can actually seriously consider membership for a country, to start accession talks with a country that is at war,” Orban said state radio. “When we will have negotiations in Brussels about the future of Ukraine, we will be discussing the future of Ukraine.”

“We don’t know how vast this nation’s land is because the conflict is still ongoing, and we don’t know how big its population is because people are fleeing… To allow a country into the EU without knowing its dimensions would be unusual.

“So, I think we need to answer very long and difficult questions until we actually get to actually deciding about the start of accession talks,” he added.

Orban cultivates better connections with Moscow than many of his EU contemporaries and has regularly clashed horns with Kyiv, particularly over the right of ethnic Hungarians to learn in their native language after Ukraine approved legislation in 2017 prohibiting the use of minority languages in schools. In particular, this dispute centered on the right of ethnic Hungarians to learn in their native language.

On Monday, Orban addressed the Hungarian parliament and stated that unless the linguistic rights of ethnic Hungarians in Ukraine are restored, Hungary will not help Ukraine on any matter related to foreign affairs.

Hungary, a member of NATO, strongly condemns the Russian invasion of Ukraine. However, migrants fleeing the conflict in Ukraine are welcome in Hungary, despite the country’s refusal to transfer arms to Ukraine.