Hungarian leader Orban critiques Ukraine's proposed European Union membership plan.
Afternoon rolls around, marking the start of EU's negotiations with Ukraine. Hungary's Prime Minister, Viktor Orban, isn't on board with this move, as he's voiced out. His worries, especially regarding agriculture, are quite substantial.
Orban expressed his critiques towards the upcoming EU negotiations with Ukraine, happening in Luxembourg this afternoon. He told the Funke Media Group newspapers that Hungary isn't in agreement with this process, but they aren't blocking it either. Instead, they're backing the beginning of talks.
Orban considers these talks as purely politically motivated. It's not about whether Ukraine joins the EU or not. Instead, he questioned what the repercussions would be if we took in a country embroiled in war, with unclear borders. Hungary assumes the EU Council Presidency on July 1, and Orban expressed concerns about the impacts on the EU agriculture sector if such a large country were admitted. "We're diving into negotiations without clarity, which isn't good," he stated.
The negotiations with Ukraine, a country currently under attack by Russia, will kick off on the sidelines of an EU ministerial meeting in Luxembourg, alongside similar talks with Moldova, a small nation near Ukraine. The framework for these negotiations was agreed upon in the previous week.
These negotiations commenced at an EU summit in December, but the timeframe for EU membership after the start of discussions is still up in the air. The process could drag on for years. In theory, a candidate country might never become a member. That includes Ukraine right now, as it's thought unlikely that it'll join the EU before the end of the Russian aggression. Since Kiev could then ask for military aid under Article 42, Paragraph 7 of the EU treaty, and the EU would become a war party.
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Viktor Orban continues to voice his concerns about Ukraine's proposed EU membership, expressing particular worries about the impact on Hungary's agriculture sector if Ukraine were to join. Despite Hungary not blocking the EU negotiations with Ukraine, Orban considers the talks as politically motivated and questions the repercussions of admitting a country embroiled in war with unclear borders.
