Ukraine’s EU Accession: Government Politicians Insist on Giving Hungarians a Say

Balázs Orbán

Brussels has shifted up a gear again this week, as it wants to “push Ukraine into the European Union” at all costs and quickly, while sacrificing the rights of Transcarpathian Hungarians, the Minister of Foreign Affairs and Trade wrote on Facebook.

Péter Szijjártó emphasized that “Brussels cannot decide over our heads,” and that the government will initiate a referendum to let the Hungarian people decide on Ukraine’s EU membership.

He pointed out that Péter Magyar, leader of the opposition TISZA party, had not yet spoken out on Ukraine, but had done so now, and the timing was no coincidence. Now the phone call from Manfred Weber (Chairman of the European People’s Party) has arrived, he said, adding, Magyar now has to prove that Hungarians want Ukraine to join the EU, “even at the cost of forgery.” The minister was referring to the opposition party’s signature collection campaign that is to take place before the government’s referendum.

“Ukraine’s accession to the European Union at this stage would bankrupt the whole of Europe, and as the Brussels institutions are trying to speed up the process, it is extremely urgent and important that Hungarians have a say on Ukraine’s accession to the European Union first,” the Prime Minister’s political director stressed in Brussels on Thursday.

We are convinced that it is the inalienable right of EU Member States to decide which other states they want to admit to the community of European countries,”

Balázs Orbán told Hungarian journalists at the EU Summit, stressing that this right cannot be denied to EU citizens. “We therefore believe that a democratic expression of opinion on this issue is necessary,” the politician emphasized.

Ukraine’s accession to the EU in the current situation would be disastrous, yet Brussels is trying to speed up the process. It’s the right of member states to decide which countries they want to admit into the community. For us, the interests of the Hungarian people come first,… pic.twitter.com/Yx5Kr3i8ON

— Balázs Orbán (@BalazsOrban_HU) March 20, 2025

During the vote on the parliamentary plans for the 2026 EU budget, “the Brussels Party of Péter Magyar, the Brussels Party of Gyurcsány, and the Brussels Party of Momentum, as part of the grand coalition in the European Parliament, voted in favor of continuing the war,” the Fidesz-KDNP group in the European Parliament said on Thursday.

“In contrast, the EP groups of the Patriots for Europe and Fidesz-KDNP stand up for the sovereignty of the Member States, say no to illegal immigration, reject the ‘gender madness,’ refuse to give in to the increasingly brutal political blackmail of the Brussels bureaucracy,” emphasized Fidesz-KDNP parliamentary group leader Tamás Deutsch. He added: “In contrast to Brussels’ warmongering, they stand up for peace, i.e. they say no to the budget deficit and to the budget plans of the ‘Grand Coalition’ of the People’s Party, the Socialists, and the Liberals.”

Via MTI, Featured image: X/Balázs Orbán