KYIV, Ukraine — Hungary would be the one to determine whether or not Ukraine is ready to obtain its hopes of becoming a member of the European Union sooner or later, Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán stated Saturday in an escalation of his adversarial posture towards Hungary’s war-ravaged neighbor.
Talking at an annual State of the Nation tackle in Budapest to a closed circle of get together members and supporters, Orbán described Ukraine as a buffer zone between Russia and NATO nations, and predicted that, following a cessation of Moscow’s warfare, it might resume that function regardless of its ambitions to affix the Western navy alliance.
He added that whether or not Ukraine can sooner or later be a part of the 27-member EU “might be determined by the Hungarians.”
“In opposition to the need of Hungary and the Hungarians, Ukraine won’t ever be a member of the European Union,” Orbán stated. “Ukraine’s accession would destroy Hungarian farmers, and never solely them, however your entire Hungarian nationwide financial system.”
Unanimity is required amongst leaders of all EU nations for accepting new members.
Orbán, thought of the Kremlin’s closest accomplice amongst EU leaders, has been the bloc’s main obstacle in its efforts to help Ukraine within the nation’s wrestle to defend in opposition to Russia’s full-scale invasion. He has regularly criticized, and threatened to veto, EU sanctions in opposition to Russia over its aggression, however has in the end at all times voted for them.
Whereas Hungary, an EU and NATO member, has taken in Ukrainian refugees fleeing the battle, it has additionally stood in the way in which of EU monetary help to Kyiv and pushed for deeper financial and power cooperation with Moscow regardless of the warfare.
Seeming to query Ukraine’s statehood, Orbán stated Saturday that the warfare Russia launched almost three years in the past was “not even about Ukraine, however concerning the territory referred to as Ukraine – which till now has been a buffer zone between NATO and Russia – being positioned underneath the auspices of NATO.”
“Ukraine, or what stays of it, will once more turn into a buffer zone,” Orbán stated. “It is not going to turn into a NATO member.”
These feedback mirrored latest statements by members of U.S. President Donald Trump’s administration, who’ve advised Ukraine ought to abandon its hopes of becoming a member of NATO as a guarantor of its future safety in opposition to potential Russian assaults.
Orbán, a Trump ally, has applauded the U.S. administration’s actions to dismantle the U.S. Company for Worldwide Improvement, claiming, with no proof, that the company was used to fund liberal causes in Hungary aimed toward toppling his authorities.
He has promised a reckoning for nongovernmental organizations, media retailers and rights teams which have benefited from funding by USAID, saying they might be eradicated in Hungary and face “authorized penalties.”
On Saturday, Orbán doubled down on his earlier crackdowns on civil society and LGBTQ+ individuals, saying his authorities would ship a commissioner to the US to gather information on Hungarian entities that had acquired USAID funding.
“We should urgently create the constitutional and authorized situations, in order that we do not need to take a seat idly by as pseudo-civil public organizations serve overseas pursuits and manage political actions earlier than our eyes,” Orbán stated.
He additionally introduced that he would advocate that the Hungarian Structure – which his get together unilaterally authored in 2011 – be amended to say that an individual is both a person or a girl, and hinted that his right-wing populist authorities would take steps to ban the annual LGBTQ+ Satisfaction parade in Budapest this summer time.
“I counsel we go on a counterattack right here,” Orbán stated. “I counsel Satisfaction organizers to not trouble with the preparation of this 12 months’s parade … Waste of time and money.”
