Orbán: Hungary not to yield to any pressure on Ukraine accession

Fielding a question on Ukraine’s EU accession, Orbán said enlargement had conditions and these had not been fulfilled. He said the European Council was not in a position to decide, adding that “we will have to return to this later, when the conditions have been met.”

“We will not budge on this no matter what the offer is”, Viktor Orbán said.

Answering a question, the prime minister said enlargement of the community was “not a theoretical issue but a legally defined process including preconditions”.

According to the European Commission, Ukraine has so far met four out of a total seven preconditions, therefore “the time has not come to talk about Ukraine’s membership”, Orbán said.

“Hungarians genetically cannot be pressurised,” he said, adding that “we cannot be influenced.” Hungary has its “firm position” on the enlargement process and will continue to stand by it, Orbán added.

Concerning a planned, 50 billion euro fund for Ukraine, Orbán said the EU had already approved to grant that country a short-term aid from its budget. “A bigger, longer term aid must come from outside the EU budget . which Hungary could support,” he said.

Since the short-term aid has been approved, the EU is “not being pressed for time”, Orbán said, adding that “Hungary does not link a single Hungarian cause to Ukraine or to other current issues.”

Orbán: Ukraine’s EU membership ‘bad decision’

The PM said that the European Union membership “is a bad decision which Hungary wants no part in”, in a video published on Facebook on Thursday. In the video recorded in the break of the EU summit in Brussels, Orbán said Hungary’s stance was that Ukraine was not ready to start accession talks with the EU.

“The decision to start talks with Ukraine in these circumstances is senseless, irrational and wrong, and Hungary will not change its stance,” he said.

At the same time, “the other 26 states insisted on making that decision. Hungary decided that … they should go their own way,” he said.

Hungary stayed away from the decision-making, he said.

The talks will resume with amendments of the budget, he added.