BRUSSELS, December 15. /TASS/. The European Union has a long way to go before it can admit Ukraine as its member, French President Emmanuel Macron said.

"We are very far from admitting Ukraine," he told a news conference after the EU summit. "The admission of any new states requires a profound reform of our rules."

He also said that he hopes that Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban, "bearing in mind the fact that his legal interests have been taken into account, will act as a European and not take hostage Europe’s political future."

Orban strongly objects to Ukraine’s membership in the European Union. According to the Politico newspaper, during an EU summit on Thursday, German Chancellor Olaf Scholz suggested that Orban go out for coffee when the rest discussed a plan on beginning talks on Ukraine’s accession to the EU. With the Hungarian prime minister out, the EU leaders finally agreed to begin these talks.

During the summit, Orban also said that he had vetoed a resolution on a long-term program of financial aid to Ukraine, which provides for the allocation of 50 billion euro before the end of 2027. Thirty-three billion of this sum are to be loaned to Kiev, and 17 billion will be provided as grants, or gratis. The assistance program was among the summit’s key topics.