Orbán vetoes joint EU statement on Ukraine – again
Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán vetoed the joint statement on Ukraine at the EU summit on 26 June 2025. The remaining 26 member states thus issued their conclusions on Ukraine in a separate document, 444.hu reported.
According to the news portal, this was the third summit in a row in which the Hungarian prime minister vetoed the section on Ukraine. However, this was not unexpected, as Foreign Minister Péter Szijjártó had already announced on Monday that the prime minister would veto the joint statement.
The 26 member states have declared that they will support Ukraine’s defensive war and the country’s accession to the EU, both financially and with weapons.
Szijjártó: Ukrainian foreign ministry ‘wrong’ to think EU accession possible without backing of Hungarians
Ukraine’s foreign ministry is wrong to think that the country can join the EU without the backing of EU citizens, including Hungarians, Péter Szijjártó, the foreign minister, said on Thursday.
Szijjarto said the Ukrainian foreign ministry claimed yesterday that Hungarians did not have the right to decide in respect of Ukraine’s EU bid. He said, conversely, it was not in the gift of President Volodomyr Zelensky or his government to decide on the country’s membership, but EU citizens, including Hungarians.
He added that Hungary wanted no part in “the accession of a country that brings the threat of war, risks our energy security and once almost brought ruin to our farmers”. While demanding the support of Hungarians, Ukraine had been “systematically taking away minority rights from the Hungarian community in Transcarpathia” for the past ten years, he added.
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