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Arriving at the two-day EU summit, Mr Orbán said the Hungarian position is very clear. “When we talk about enlargement, the Hungarian position is that this is a merit-based, sophisticated legal procedure,” he explained.
In answer to a question related to Ukraine’s EU accession, the Prime Minister said enlargement is subject to certain conditions; these conditions have not been met.
He said the European Council is not in a position to decide. In his words, they will have to come back to this later, once, he highlighted, the conditions have already been satisfied.
“We will not move from this position, whatever the offer,” Mr Orbán added.
In answer to a question, he pointed out that enlargement was not a theoretical issue. Enlargement is a legally defined process with conditions attached.
The EU set seven such conditions, of which Ukraine has to date met four according to the European Commission’s assessment. As the Brussels body itself has concluded that three conditions have not been met, the time has not yet come to talk about Ukraine’s membership, he stated.
“Hungarians are genetically coded in such a way that they don’t feel pressure; therefore, this doesn’t affect us,” Mr Orbán said, adding that Hungary has a very firm position regarding the issue of enlargement, and will stand for that position.
Regarding the planned EU funding of EUR 50 billion intended to be provided for Ukraine over a period of four years, the Prime Minister said the EU has already approved short-term funding intended for the country to the debit of the budget. However, any long-term funding of a larger amount must remain outside the EU’s budget. In that case, Hungary would be willing to support it, he said.
As a short-term grant has already been approved, the EU is not pressed for time, the Prime Minister highlighted, adding that Hungary does not connect any Hungarian issue with either Ukraine or any other related matter.
