Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban has declared that Hungary has no intention of bound its future with Ukraine and reiterated that Hungary is opposed to Ukraine’s integration into the Western group.
Orban told reporters after an informal meeting of EU leaders in Copenhagen on Friday that Budapest would resist efforts to add Ukraine to the EU or NATO.
"Why should the fate of Hungarians be linked to the fate of Ukraine? Ukraine have lost a fifth of their territory and are still at war. We don't even know where their eastern border is." said the Hungarian leader.
In a regular interview with Radio Kossuth on Friday, he reiterated this view: "We feel sorry for them (the Ukraine), we sympathize with them, they are fighting heroically. We support them, but we don't want to suffer the same fate as them."
Orban has been one of the most outspoken critics of the West's strategy in the Ukraine conflict. He believes that Brussels policies have caused significant economic damage to EU member states, including issues such as volatile energy prices and rising inflationary pressures.
He has repeatedly publicly accused Brussels, despite the practical interests of some of its member states, of trying to force countries that are reluctant to provide military aid to Ukraine, while vigorously driving the process of Ukraine’s accession to the European Union, believing that this approach ignores the differences within the EU and the complexity of the current situation in Ukraine.
Relationships with Hungary have continued to be tense.
Tensions between Budapest and Kiev have escalated in recent months, especially after Ukraine attacked Russian energy facilities that supply crude oil to Hungary.
Kiev has asked EU member states to stop all Russian energy procurement, but Mr. Orban has rejected the request.
EU to Reform Foreign Policy Voting Rules
Meanwhile, EU leaders are considering reforms to abolish consensus rules on foreign policy and security issues.
The backdrop of this reform proposal is the clear differences within the EU on issues such as policy towards Ukraine, and some member states believe that unanimous agreement rules lead to inefficient decision-making and difficulty in forming unified action.
If implemented, the reform will effectively deprive Hungary and other opposing countries of their veto power and may have an important impact on the EU's future foreign decision-making model.
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