Orbán repeats his thesis about "catastrophe" Ukraine's EU accession will cause

Tuesday, 30 January 2024

Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán is worrying about allegedly "catastrophic consequences" of Ukraine’s EU accession again.

Orbán mentioned in an interview to a French media outlet Le Point published by his press service the Eurointegration of Ukraine in his comments on the protests of European farmers.

"This story shows how serious of a problem Ukraine is for Europe in general, let alone the war," he said.

The Hungarian PM claims that Ukraine getting closer to the EU or becoming its member "may have a catastrophic effect for European economies, especially in the agrarian sector".

Advertisement:

He explained how Hungary is "affected" by the Ukrainian economy since it borders Ukraine.

"Ukrainian agricultural products are way cheaper than that of French and Hungarian farmers…We cannot compete and we are destroying our agricultural sectors…the European Commission must protect European interests rather than those of Ukrainians, not Ukrainian interests rather than those of European farmers," Orbán says.

Earlier, Orbán complained that Ukraine becoming an EU member would mean that all central-European support, including that for Hungary, will be sent to Kyiv.

At the EU summit on 14 December, EU leaders supported the opening of negotiations with Ukraine and Moldova.

Although the decision on Kyiv had long been blocked by Hungary, its veto was overridden by persuading Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán to leave the room during the vote and thus abstain from voting.

Orbán himself later claimed that he had agreed to give up his veto right at the start of Ukraine’s EU accession talks since he would have many more opportunities to block the process.

If you notice an error, select the required text and press Ctrl + Enter to report it to the editors.
Advertisement: