BERLIN, March 20. /TASS/. The European Union is hell-bent on protracting the conflict in Ukraine at any cost while completely disregarding the sovereignty of European countries and ignoring the peace-oriented stance of Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban, Member of the European Parliament Harald Vilimsky said.
"The EU is making decisions that affect all member states and violate their sovereignty to a considerable extent. They are doing it without Hungary, whose prime minister is under enormous pressure from Brussels. This is outrageous. Viktor Orban is acting in the interests of his people, and is committed to peace. Instead of respecting this, the European Union is treating Hungary as if it does not exist. This once again shows that Brussels is ready to protract this conflict at any cost," said Vilimsky, who heads the Freedom Party of Austria’s group in the European Parliament.
Following the Ukraine-themed discussions in Brussels on Thursday, 26 members of the European Union announced their determination to toughen anti-Russian sanctions and called upon Moscow to demonstrate political will to resolve the conflict. Budapest refused to support this statement.
In their final document, EU countries, except Hungary, pledged to assist Ukraine in accordance with the "peace through strength" approach, as well as to provide security guarantees "in particular by supporting Ukraine’s ability to defend itself effectively."
They also reaffirmed continued financial and economic support and pledged to expedite the EU membership process for Ukraine.