negotiations on Ukraine's accession to the EU: Szijjártó made a new statement” width=”630″ height=”340″ />
© EPA/ Georgi Licovski The Hungarian minister also once again criticized the European Union's support for Ukraine.
Hungary continues to block the opening of negotiations on Ukraine's accession to the EU. Hungarian Foreign Minister Peter Szijjarto said that Budapest will not allow “the substantive part of the accession negotiations, that is, the specific chapters of the negotiations, to be opened,” Index reports .
Szijjarto claims that the Hungarian government is again under great pressure to allow Ukraine to accelerate its accession to the EU and to support new sanctions against Russia, this time in the energy sector. He said that Brussels is allegedly neglecting the issue of Budapest's energy security. Szijjarto complained that there has still been no response to a letter from the Hungarian and Slovak governments calling for measures against Ukraine after the attacks on the Druzhba oil pipeline.
Brussels and most EU member states are not interested in peace, but in a prolonged continuation of the war in Ukraine and are ready to spend billions more to support Kyiv, Szijjártó said after a meeting of EU foreign ministers in Copenhagen on Saturday, August 30.
“In Copenhagen, it was determined that Ukraine needs to be supported financially, and since there is no agreement on whether frozen Russian assets should be collateral for this, it is obvious that national or European budgets can be used to finance Ukraine,” he said.
According to Szijjártó, Hungary “will not succumb to pressure and will protect the Hungarian people from the negative consequences of war and sanctions.” First, Hungary will support the “peace efforts” of US President Donald Trump. Second, Budapest will not allow “Ukraine to be drawn into the EU, because that would destroy Hungarian farmers, Hungarian food security and allow the Ukrainian mafia to infiltrate Hungary,” he said.
“This is why we will not allow the opening of a substantial part of the accession negotiations, that is, specific chapters of the negotiations,” Szijjártó said.
“Thirdly, we will not allow … the money of the Hungarian people to be used to arm and finance the Ukrainian army, so we continue to not support the use of about 2,500 billion forints of European taxpayers’ money, from the European Peace Fund, for all this. And finally, fourthly, we will not allow Brussels and Kyiv to jointly endanger Hungary’s energy security,” Szijjártó added.
Hungary has traditionally blocked “pro-Ukrainian initiatives” in the EU, as well as the start of accession negotiations for Ukraine. Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban has stated that he seeks to prevent Ukraine from joining the Union at all costs , citing concerns about the money of EU citizens.
Orban even organized a so-called national poll in Hungary on the topic: do Hungarians want Ukraine to join the EU? Do such “national consultations” have legal force and what is really behind them? Yulia Nevmerzhytska offers answers to these questions in the article “Voice of the people or manipulation? What is behind Orban’s poll on Ukraine’s accession to the EU” .
