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Hungarians will decide whether Ukraine can join the European Union, Orbán says

22 February 2025 21:00 (UTC +04:00)

Hungary will be the one to decide whether Ukraine is able to achieve its hopes of joining the European Union in the future, Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán said Saturday in an escalation of his adversarial posture toward Hungary’s war-ravaged neighbor, APA reports citing AP.

Speaking at an annual State of the Nation address in Budapest to a closed circle of party members and supporters, Orbán described Ukraine as a buffer zone between Russia and NATO countries, and predicted that, following a cessation of Moscow’s war, it would resume that role despite its ambitions to join the Western military alliance.

He added that whether Ukraine can one day join the 27-member EU “will be decided by the Hungarians.”

“Against the will of Hungary and the Hungarians, Ukraine will never be a member of the European Union,” Orbán said. “Ukraine’s accession would destroy Hungarian farmers, and not only them, but the entire Hungarian national economy.”

Seeming to question Ukraine’s statehood, Orbán said Saturday that the war Russia launched nearly three years ago was “not even about Ukraine, but about the territory called Ukraine — which until now has been a buffer zone between NATO and Russia — being placed under the auspices of NATO.”