PARIS, December 8. /TASS/. The EU is not ready and cannot afford to agree to Ukraine’s accession for a number of reasons, including the fact that it is one of the most corrupt countries in the world, Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban has said.

In an interview with the French magazine Le Point Orban emphasized that he did not intend to contribute to the EU's "bad decision" on Ukraine.

"The concept of my Europe is this: if some disagree, there will be no decision," he pointed out. According to Orban, the EU should not let Ukraine join in "for two reasons:" first, the Ukrainians themselves are not ready for accession talks, and second, the Europeans "are not ready to accept them as full members."

"Whatever they think in Paris, Brussels and The Hague, we know exactly what is happening in Ukraine. The European Commission's report that four of the seven preconditions have already been met is simply a lie. Ukraine is known to be one of the most corrupt countries in the world. This is just some kind of a joke! We cannot decide to start the process of accession talks," the Hungarian prime minister emphasized.

Orban also added that in addressing the issue of Ukraine's membership the economic aspect should be taken into account. "Ukraine is a big country with a significant agricultural sector. If we allow this agricultural sector to enter the European system, it will destroy the system the very next day. Without transforming our system of agricultural subsidies, we cannot let them in. The consequences will be terrible," Orban warned.

Earlier, Orban said that Budapest was against including in the agenda of the upcoming December 14-15 EU summit in Brussels the issue of starting negotiations with Kiev on joining the community. He noted that "Hungary will not veto" the negotiations, as there was simply no need for that. He explained that "there are certain issues on which decisions in the EU are made only on the condition of consent of all countries." In this case there is no consensus.

It is expected that the leaders of the 27 EU countries may decide at a summit on December 14-15 to enter into negotiations with Ukraine and Moldova on joining the EU, as well as to grant Georgia a candidate status. The European Commission, which made this proposal at the beginning of November, argues that Kiev and Chisinau have complied with all the terms for starting negotiations, and Tbilisi, for obtaining the EU membership candidate status.