BRUSSELS, December 11. /TASS/. The start of official talks on Ukraine’s joining the European Union may be postponed until March if Hungary refuses to give its consent at the EU summit in Brussels on December 14-15, the Euractiv news portal said, referring to European diplomats.

According to it, the postponement may be a kind of compromise in case Budapest refuses to support the start of talks this week, something that requires unanimous backing from all 27 EU member nations, giving it time to revise its stance. If Hungary refuses to reverse its position on Ukraine, this will also make impossible further moves by Georgia as well as Bosnia and Herzegovina towards joining the EU, approved by Budapest.

Problems will also arise with the allocation of 50 billion euros to Kiev, which is also on the agenda of the EU summit this week. As the Internet portal pointed out, if Hungary blocks the new aid package, the member states of the community will have to increase support from national budgets. This would be "a more complicated and expensive way," an EU diplomat said.

"It’s very important that… the European Union will show clear and full support to Ukraine," Euractiv quoted the official as saying under condition of anonymity. "That message wouldn’t be only for Moscow, it would also be a message for Washington, it would also be a message for Kiev," he added. According to the diplomat, the EU is facing "a key moment" now, with a stalemate on the battlefield and the US Congress failing to approve a next aid package for Ukraine.

Earlier, in an interview with Le Point magazine, Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban called Ukraine one of the most corrupt countries in the world and strongly opposed the EU's going into talks with Kiev on its European Union membership. Politico, in turn, reported that the EU will try to persuade Orban not to block aid to Kiev at the summit on December 14-15.

The leaders of the 27 EU countries may decide on the start of accession talks with Ukraine and Moldova this week and grant a candidate status to Georgia. This was the proposal made in early November by the European Commission, which believes that Kiev and Chisinau have met all the conditions for the start of talks, while Tbilisi - for being granted EU candidate status.