Fidesz: Ukraine ‘has not met conditions’ to start EU accession talks
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The European Union should offer Ukraine a privileged partnership for now but accession talks should not be on the table, the head of the prime minister’s office said on Thursday.
Gergely Gulyás told a government press conference that Hungary stood in solidarity with Ukraine and the country extended significant financial and humanitarian support. “But this doesn’t change the fact that Ukraine has failed to fulfil the conditions to start EU accession talks,” he added.
He cited issues concerning national minorities and corruption, referring to decisions that had disadvantaged ethnic Hungarians living in Ukraine.
“We must state our agreement with former EU commission chief Jean-Claude Juncker who said that Ukraine’s accession would be a big mistake,” he said, adding that Juncker believed that “Ukraine is totally corrupt and not ready for EU membership.”
Gulyás said that Hungary’s position concerning EU enlargement had been clear for a long time: ongoing enlargement procedures should be implemented first, he said.
Concerning EU support for Ukraine, Gulyás said taking out a joint loan would be unnecessary.
He said joint borrowing had been agreed on as a “one-off” when the recovery fund was decided on, adding that the government had not supported joint borrowing at the time but adopted a parliamentary resolution in support with the caveat that joint borrowing was a “one-off, non-repeatable instrument”.
Support for Ukraine must be found in a way that “does not deprive the next European Parliament and European Commission of the opportunity to take meaningful decisions on these issues without resorting to joint borrowing.”
Gulyás said the EU’s strategy on Ukraine had “failed” and a strategic review was needed.
A new public survey would be a good way of allowing Hungarian voters to give their views on supporting Ukraine, its EU membership, arms shipments and grain deliveries, he said.
Meanwhile, Gulyás said that inflation in Hungary would be pushed into the single digits by the end of November. The Central Statistical Office will have compiled October’s inflation data by Friday afternoon, which is expected to be around 10 percent, he said. Inflation will fall further in December and is expected to be just over 7 percent by year-end, he said.
Inflation, he said, had been “the greatest opponent” in the recent period, adding that the government would be able to meet its previous commitment to depress inflation to single digits in the promised timeframe.
Oh, dear. A case of being careful what you wish for.
Let us not get into the Copenhagen criteria too much, the European Union may end up applying them to us on an ongoing basis and that could get very interesting, really quickly.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Copenhagen_criteria
Our border protection is so effective, our neighboring countries have reinstituted border controls. Obviously, they are wrong, and our Politicians are right. A solid investment, our Border Wall (somebody else will pay for it!):
https://crisis24.garda.com/alerts/2023/10/central-europe-germany-austria-czech-republic-poland-and-slovakia-extend-border-controls-to-early-november-update-4
Lastly – can we hold Mr. Gulyás to account, regarding all of his growth and outperformer representations? I am sure he is counting on us forgetting all of this at the end of 2024, when he is likely to fall well short of his bullish projections.