Hungary Cannot Support the Speeding Up of Ukraine’s EU Accession

Hungary Today 2025.03.19.

L-R: Prime Minister Viktor Orbán and President Volodymyr Zelenskyy

Hungary cannot support the final declaration of the upcoming EU summit on Ukraine because it calls for speeding up the accession process of Ukraine, which is contrary to the Hungarian government’s position, the Minister for European Union Affairs said in Brussels on Tuesday.

Speaking ahead of the meeting of EU ministers responsible for EU affairs in general, János Bóka stressed that it is “difficult to see” that the Ukrainian economy, in its current state, could in any way strengthen Europe’s competitiveness. Ukraine’s accession to the EU, its reconstruction, the running of the Ukrainian state, the financing of the army, would impose unforeseeable costs on the EU and member states’ budgets, he pointed out.

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Regarding Ukraine’s accession to the EU, Deputy Prime Minister Olha Stefanishyna said to Politico that only one member state, Hungary, is blocking the process. The politician recalled that President Volodymyr Zelenskyy and Prime Minister Viktor Orbán met two times, and there is also a dialogue with Foreign Minister Péter Szijjártó on Hungarian minorities in Ukraine, but according to her, Hungary’s position cannot be changed. “It raises many questions on how to fix the situation,” she added. Politico writes that EU member states are already anticipating Hungary’s veto at the Council meeting on Thursday, and are thinking about ways to deal with the problem on a longer term.

On other agenda points, Minister János Bóka also said that it was particularly important to reduce high energy prices, stressing that Hungary would like to see a review of the EU’s regulations that contribute to higher energy prices, including the sanctions regime, mandatory gas storage periods and the carbon dioxide emission quota system.

❌Hungary cannot support the #EUCO conclusions on #Ukraine in the current form: contradicts the Hungarian position and the Hungarian national interests on several strategic points, and calls to further accelerate the Ukrainian accession process.

The @EUCouncil will also… pic.twitter.com/GXZi4fgrkz

— Bóka János (@JanosBoka_HU) March 18, 2025

On the 2025 legislative program on the summit agenda and the review of the legislative priorities for the period 2025-2029, János Bóka stated that the Hungarian government could not support these documents.

The main reason is that it proposes to further extend and strengthen the so-called rule of law conditionality, which Hungary sees as a tool for exerting political and ideological pressure.

Furthermore, the document in its current form does not reflect Hungarian priorities, among others because it does not focus on innovative solutions to migration but on the implementation of the migration pact. “This is unacceptable for us,” the Minister underlined. He added that it would also be important to mention the transparency of the funding of European NGOs, but, as he pointed out, this is not visible in the document either. The Minister also said that it was very important that issues of the rule of law and integrity in relation to the EU institutions should also be brought to the fore.

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Via MTI, Politico; Featured photo via MTI/Miniszterelnöki Sajtóiroda/Fischer Zoltán