EU believes that Orbán will not block actual start of accession talks with Ukraine

The EU leadership believes that they will find a way to reach an agreement with Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán so that he does not block the actual start of negotiations with Ukraine on joining the European Union.

Kaja Kallas, High Representative of the European Union for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy, said this in a conversation with the media after an informal breakfast organised before the meeting of the Council of the EU on general issues. 

The journalists asked whether Viktor Orbán's position on Ukraine would be an obstacle to the actual launch of negotiations, given his statements that Ukraine's accession would supposedly be an economic threat to the EU.

"We have in the European Union 27 different countries and 27 different internal democracies. So, every decision we make, we discuss and it's always difficult, so I don’t have any illusions that this is going to get any easier – but in the end, we have always managed," Kallas said.

Earlier, European Commissioner for Enlargement Marta Kos expressed confidence that the first and thirty-first clusters in negotiations with Ukraine would be opened in 2025.

On 27 January, the EU managed to "push" Hungary to approve the extension of economic sanctions against Russia, even though the EU had to make a concession to Budapest.

Kallas hinted that the statement on "energy security", in exchange for which Hungary supported the extension of sanctions against Russia, was symbolic.