Hungary's Veto of Ukraine’s Accession Will Be Irresponsibility of Rest of EU, Ukraine's Deputy PM Says

Hungary's blocking of Ukraine's movement into the EU at the summit in December will be the result of the irresponsibility of other member states.

"It’s about talking to each other, convincing each other and helping those who [are] still in doubt or who are trying to veto the future of Europe, speaking to them and taking the responsibility of this veto," Olha Stefanishyna, Deputy Prime Minister for European and Euro-Atlantic Integration, said as reported by The Guardian.

"Because speaking of the veto of one country on 15 December, this will not be a veto of one country. This would be the irresponsibility of the others – those who are not building this consensus, who are not working on focusing on a bigger picture on the future of Europe. So I guess we all understand what I’m referring to and this is how we read it, this is how we treat it," she added.

On 22 November, Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán wrote a letter to Charles Michel, the Head of the European Council, threatening to block all aid from the European Union for Ukraine, as well as Ukraine’s future EU accession, if the EU leaders do not agree to reconsider their whole strategy of support for Kyiv.

The Hungarian government also announced "consultations" with the population, the main question of which would be the support for Ukraine’s EU membership.

Charles Michel, European Council President, will arrive in Budapest on 27 November for bilateral talks with Hungarian PM Viktor Orbán as part of efforts to prepare for a European Council meeting.