PM Orbán suggests Ukraine has no other change but to back Trump’s peace efforts or they lose their country

“If we approved Ukraine’s accession, war would also enter the European Union, which was created as an alliance for peace,” Prime Minister Viktor Orbán said in his regular weekly radio interview on Friday.

No to Ukraine’s EU accession

“Let us not do that, let us say no to Ukraine’s EU entry,” he said. He insisted that if the accession process reached its final stages “it would be very difficult to stop”. “It is best to make things clear in the beginning and stop things from reaching a stage when the whole of Europe stands on our chest demanding Hungary’s approval,” Orbán said. “Either we stop the process now or later we won’t be able to.”

Hungarian voters have a say concerning the date of Ukraine’s accession “and we are very reluctant to say yes”, Orbán said. The head of the European Commission has announced the EU’s decision that “Ukraine must be admitted by 2030”, and “they have given instructions: all European parties that support the commission will speak the same language” pressing for Ukraine’s EU entry, Orbán said, adding, however, that “Hungary’s government opposes that”.

“The Hungarian opposition held a vote on the matter, in fact, in a rather fair way … the only power party in Brussels which asked their voters if they supported Ukraine’s accession was a Hungarian one, and fifty-plus percent said yes,” the prime minister said. This is a real dispute not only in Europe but in Hungary, too, he said.

• Orbán openly urges voters to block Ukraine’s EU accession in referendum

Accession would destroy Hungary’s economy

While one side advocates Ukraine’s accession, “there is another position … which says that fast-tracking Ukraine’s accession would destroy the Hungarian economy” and “bankrupt” the country, Orbán said. Concerning the war in Ukraine Orbán called for “putting an end to the war psychosis” in Europe. He added that he had hoped that could be done faster, and believed “there would sooner come the moment when Europe realises that there is no point in supporting Ukraine without the United States”. He insisted that Ukraine has no chance of retaining its positions “let alone regaining anything” without US support.

Ukraine has no other chance but to support US peace struggles, says Orbán

Orbán said he had thought “everybody will realise that its only option and task is to support the US president’s endeavours for peace”, but added that “it is not what is happening.” He said all EU members with the exception of Hungary and Slovakia had voted for increasing “assistance to the war”. The European Parliament has recently voted to send “further billions of military aid” to Ukraine, Orbán said, which he saw as a “serious war psychosis”, with the bloc “seeking an independent European war strategy rather than supporting America”.

The reason why Hungary could support Ukraine’s accession to the European Union was because “we must protect our achievements so far”, Orbán said.

• Péter Magyar: Orbán cabinet demanded Ukraine’s EU accession before – with FM Szijjártó’s reaction

Orbán said the EU admitted new members because it was beneficial for the existing ones, just as it had been in the case of Hungary and the other countries in the region. If admitting Ukraine to the bloc would be beneficial to Hungary, “I’d gladly say yes”, the prime minister said, adding that he was certain that this was not the case.

Hungary losing due to Ukraine

“Why should we have to lose out when we could benefit, or at the very least we could protect everything we’ve achieved so far?” he said. Orbán said the free flow of Ukrainian labour into Hungary threatened to end full employment, “the biggest achievement of the last 15 years, within one or two years”.

Ukraine’s accession, he added, would “completely reshape the financial foundations of European agriculture, leaving no money for Hungarian farmers”, which would put hundreds of thousands of families in a very difficult situation.

• HERE are our articles related to the ongoing war in Ukraine.

Poor quality Ukrainian products

According to the prime minister, poor quality Ukrainian products would flood Europe, while “support for Ukraine would deplete the EU’s reserves”. In addition, he said, Hungary would become a contributor rather than a beneficiary country and would be obliged to “finance Ukraine’s EU membership”. “It is not in our own interest and we have the right to promote those interests,” he added.

Orbán slamming Tisza

Meanwhile, Orbán referred to recent remarks by Kinga Kollár, MEP of opposition Tisza, criticising her for “working each day to prevent Hungary from receiving funds due to the country”. It is “unacceptable and impossible” that “a few dozen people in Brussels are paid to thwart the efforts of 4.7 million people working in Hungary for the country’s success,” Orbán said.

Hungary is entitled to funds which it must gain access to, Orbán said, adding that the country had secured 13 billion euros of funds through “fierce political battles”, which, combined with budget resources, had been spent on raising teachers’ wages. Hungary, Orbán said, had yet to gain access to another more than 10 billion euros, adding that he was “fighting to ensure that Brussels releases these funds unconditionally”.