Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban. AFP
Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban stated Friday that the European Union would want to deal with “very long and difficult questions” earlier than the bloc may even begin accession talks with war-torn Ukraine.
Hungary has strained relations with Ukraine and has vowed to carry up Kyiv’s efforts towards EU and NATO integration.
EU members are as a consequence of resolve quickly whether or not to launch formal membership talks with Kyiv.
“I think we have very long and difficult questions to answer before we get to the point where we can even decide to start negotiations,” Orban advised state radio.
“We do not know how much territory this country has, because it is still at war. We do not know how big its population is, because they are fleeing,” Orban added.
To combine Ukraine into the bloc “without knowing its parameters would be unprecedented,” he acknowledged.
Ukraine utilized for EU membership simply days after Russia’s invasion on 24 February, 2022, and obtained candidacy standing a number of months later in a robust sign of help from Brussels.
Orban has sought to keep up shut ties with the Kremlin regardless of the warfare.
Budapest-Kyiv relations have been strained over the problem of minority rights within the Transcarpathian area of western Ukraine.
Round 200,000 ethnic Hungarians reside in Ukraine, nearly all within the Transcarpathia area which belonged to Hungary earlier than World Warfare I.