ChristDems: Hungary stands for EU candidacy of Georgia and Bosnia-Herzegovina

Lőrinc Nacsa, a lawmaker of the co-ruling Christian Democrats (KDNP), said on Wednesday that Hungary will stand up for the European Union candidacy of Georgia and Bosnia-Herzegovina, besides Ukraine and Moldova.

Earlier this month, the European Commission proposed EU membership candidacy for Ukraine and Moldova. The status is expected to be confirmed by the EU heads of state and government at the summit starting on Thursday.

Speaking to MTI on the sidelines of a summer session of the Council of Europe’s Parliamentary Assembly (PACE) in Strasbourg, Nacsa said the integration of Georgia and Bosnia-Herzegovina “must not be considered separately from that of Ukraine and Moldova”, arguing that it would weaken the EU not to support those two countries.

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In crisis situations, the EU would do well to grasp the opportunity to grant candidate status to countries that have worked a lot to achieve that goal over the past years, Nacsa said. “We reject any measures of the European Commission seeking to create a division between those countries,” he said.

He said the EU’s decision to change the criteria for integration from country to country was discriminatory.

Meanwhile, Barna Zsigmond, a lawmaker of ruling Fidesz, told MTI that “Brussels has been unable to properly tackle either the [pandemic-related] health-care and the migration crisis or the issue of enlargement”.

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“Giving full attention to Ukraine and Moldova while ignoring Georgia and Bosnia-Herzegovina is tantamount to betrayal,” he said. Zsigmond said it was “a strategic and geopolitical mistake” to deny granting candidate status to Bosnia and Herzegovina and to “drag its feet” on Serbia’s integration process.

“It is in the interest of Europe to have as many countries as possible join the European Union,” he said.