Orbán Does Not Believe Ukraine Will Join EU While at War

Viktor Orbán, Prime Minister of Hungary, has stated that he considers Ukraine's accession to the EU unrealistic while the war continues and sees this as a problem even for the decision to start accession negotiations.

Orbán said on the air during the national radio that the EU will need to "answer very long and difficult questions until it reaches the moment when it will be possible to decide even to start negotiations" on Ukraine's accession to the EU.

"When we discuss the future of Ukraine in Brussels in the fall, we will not be able to avoid the question of whether we can seriously think about the membership of such a country. Would it be possible to start negotiations with a country at war? We do not understand what the territory of this country is because it is still fighting, and we don't know what its population is because this population is leaving... Accepting a country (to the EU – ed.) without knowing its parameters would be unprecedented," Orbán said.

Orbán said that the acceptance of new EU members requires the unanimous consent of all 27 EU countries, and in Hungary, this would require a parliamentary decision.

"When I talk to the lawmakers, I do not feel the burning desire of the Hungarian parliament to vote for Ukraine's accession to the EU in two years. So I would be careful with such ambitious plans," Orbán said, apparently responding to the predictions of the Ukrainian deputy prime minister that Ukraine will be ready for accession in two years.

On 25 September, Orbán announced that Budapest would not support Ukraine’s NATO membership until the rights of the Hungarians of Zakarpattia (Transcarpathia) in Ukraine were restored.

The Hungarian president also said he sees no reason to rush to approve Sweden's membership in NATO.