Minister: Hungary won’t change its mind on Ukraine EU accession

Hungary will not change its mind in connection with starting Ukraine’s European Union accession talks and financial support for the country, the minister of EU affairs said on Tuesday.

Hungary firmly believes that starting EU accession talks would be premature, János Bóka said on Facebook, adding that Hungary’s position was based on principle.

He said financial support for Ukraine needed to be provided outside the EU budget with contributions and “clear political guidance” from member states.

“Linking the funds owed to the Hungarian people and support for Ukraine in any way is an attempt to blackmail Hungary, which the government rejects,” Bóka said.

The minister also said he had given an interview to Financial Times discussing the Hungarian government’s position on Ukraine.

Szijjártó: No decision on Ukraine EU accession talks at General Affairs Council meeting

Despite the pressure that has been applied, the European Union’s General Affairs Council did not make a decision on Tuesday on starting Ukraine’s EU accession talks, Foreign Minister Péter Szijjártó said in Brussels.

Speaking at a press conference after the council’s meeting, Szijjártó said the talks had mainly focused on the European Commission’s enlargement package, adding that most member states had wanted there to be a decision on starting talks on Ukraine’s EU accession.

But contrary to the original aims and despite the pressure that had been applied, no such decision was made, with the council acknowledging the EC’s assessment, meaning that the decision will go before EU leaders at this week’s summit, Szijjártó said, according to a ministry statement.

He noted that Hungary’s stance on the matter was not a tactical one, arguing that there was “no room for bargaining” because the government believed the EU was not prepared for starting a “well-structured accession process guaranteeing mutual benefits” with Ukraine.

The minister said it was clear that the EC had “no clue” how Ukraine’s potential membership would affect the bloc and its member states.

Meanwhile, Szijjártó said Hungary had succeeded in having planned steps against Serbia removed from the package, along with the planned freezing of community funds for Bosnia and Herzegovina’s autonomous Serb Republic and steps that would have rendered accession talks with North Macedonia impossible.

“Contrary to European or global public opinion, pro-enlargement countries are actually in the minority in the European Union today,” Szijjártó said.

He lamented that the EU had not admitted a new member in ten years, that the bloc had not closed a single accession chapter with any of the candidate countries in six years, and that a new chapter was last opened two years ago.

North Macedonia has been a candidate country since 2005 and Albania since 2014, but real accession talks have yet to begin, Szijjártó said. Montenegro, he added, has had candidate status since 2010, and it had been six years since an accession chapter with it had been closed. He also noted that Serbia had been a candidate country since 2012, but no real progress had been made in connection with its integration.

Szijjártó said this situation was the result of there always having been member states that had raised some sort of objection, blocked the process or were against making progress in those countries’ accession.

“And interestingly enough, these member states . were never accused by anyone of being pro-Russia or pro-Putin, no one called them Kremlin propagandists and no one said they’d end up on the wrong side of history,” Szijjártó said.

He said that just as these member states had the right to express their opinion on enlargement, Hungary also had a right to apply a carefully considered approach, taking into consideration the interests of the EU, in connection with Ukraine.

Szijjártó called for the urgent completion of the open accession chapters with Montenegro, starting the third chapter of talks with Serbia and opening the actual accession process with North Macedonia and Albania.

The minister also reiterated Hungary’s support for Bosnia and Herzegovina’s, Georgia’s and Moldova’s EU integration aspirations.

Fidesz: European leaders should represent European interests

It is time European leaders represented European interests instead of those of others, ruling Fidesz’s communications director said on Tuesday in reaction to recent remarks by the US secretary of state on the war in Ukraine.

In a video on Facebook, István Hollik played a clip of Antony Blinken saying that 90 percent of the United States’ security assistance had been spent in the US, making it “a win-win that we need to continue”.

Hollik said it was “insensitive” of Blinken to talk about the war in Hungary’s neighbouring country as a “win-win” when there were a hundred people dying in the conflict each day.He added that Blinken’s statement “also makes it clear that continuing the war is simply in America’s financial interest”.

Meanwhile, “Europe’s leadership is lying low” and echoing the United States’ arguments without seeking the opinion of the people, and forcing war instead of peace, Hollik said.

“That’s why change is needed in Brussels,” he said. “It’s time European leaders finally represented European interests, and not the interests of others.”

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