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Hungary to stop Ukraine's accession to EU if necessary — Orban

It is highlighted that the main argument of the leaders of other EU countries was that "negotiations will be a long, drawn-out process" and it is not a question of Ukraine joining the association in the near future

Hungary's Prime Minister Viktor Orban AP Photo/Omar Havana

Hungary's Prime Minister Viktor Orban

© AP Photo/Omar Havana

BUDAPEST, December 15. /TASS/. Hungary will be able to stop the process of Ukraine's accession to the European Union if necessary, Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban said.

He pointed out that he considered the start of negotiations with Ukraine a "bad decision" of the EU summit taking place in Brussels and objected to its adoption. "The Hungarian parliament has yet to vote on Ukraine's membership in the European Union. And it has already been estimated that it will take about 75 more votes for this issue to reach the national parliaments [of EU countries]," the prime minister said on Kossuth Radio.

Orban recalled that in Hungary "all important issues are decided by the parliament and the elected representatives of the Hungarian people." "It will be the same with Ukraine's accession to the EU," the prime minister added.

In his opinion, the start of negotiations with Ukraine "in itself is not yet detrimental to Hungarian national interests." "We will have the opportunity to intervene later," Orban pointed out.

He admitted that he had tried, but failed, to convince the leaders of the 26 other EU countries that it was a bad idea to start accession talks with Ukraine. "It was a long and difficult discussion. For eight hours I tried to convince them not to do it," the prime minister said. According to him, he tried to explain to his colleagues that starting negotiations with Ukraine would be a "bad decision" because the country is not ready for it, but "it was impossible to convince them". "They asked me not to stop them," Orban emphasized.

The main argument of other EU leaders was that "negotiations will be a long, drawn-out process" and it is not a question of Ukraine joining the association anytime soon. Nevertheless, Orban refused to take part in the decision. "Instead, I left the room," the prime minister pointed out.

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