Orban says Ukraine should get a "privileged partnership" instead of EU membership

The administration of Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban, who is called a friend of Russian dictator Vladimir Putin, has once again spoken negatively about Ukraine's potential membership in the European Union. They said that our country allegedly failed to fulfill the requirements, so the EU should offer Kyiv a "privileged partnership" instead of membership.

This statement was made by the head of Orban's office, Gergely Gulyás, on Thursday, November 9, hirado.hu reports. He said that there is "neither a way nor an opportunity to start negotiations" on Ukraine's accession to the European Union.

According to him, "Budapest stands in solidarity with Kyiv" and provides financial and humanitarian support to the country. However, according to Gulyás, the Ukrainian state has not fulfilled a number of conditions for the start of negotiations and has recently "not come close to them."

"We have to agree with former EU Commissioner Juncker (Jean-Claude Juncker, former president of the European Commission - Ed.), who says that accepting Ukraine would be a huge mistake," the official said.

As an explanation for his position that Ukraine cannot become a member of the EU, Gulyás cited what he believes to be a poor attitude towards Hungarians living in our country, as well as the situation with corruption.

He did not explain what a "privileged partnership" would mean for Ukraine.

The day before, Hungarian Foreign Minister Péter Szijjártó said that Ukraine was "not suitable" for EU membership. Until peace comes to our country, any negotiations on this topic are allegedly inappropriate.

Earlier, Hungary announced that it would block negotiations on Ukraine's accession to the European Union. They demand that a number of conditions be met, including "respect for the rights of the Hungarian minority."

As reported by OBOZ.UA, on November 8, the European Commission recommended starting negotiations on Ukraine's membership in the European Union. The process will be launched at the end of March 2024. However, there will be no accelerated accession procedure as Ukraine needs to ensure development in some areas.

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