NEW YORK, July 24. /TASS/. If the European Union brings Ukraine into the bloc, it would "import the war" into EU territory, weakening the alliance in the process, Hungarian Minister of Foreign Affairs and Trade Peter Szijjarto told the CNN channel in an interview.
"When you think about the enlargement of the European Union, then the major issue is that you want new member states inside the European Union which make you stronger. And Ukraine would definitely not make the European Union stronger, to the contrary, a country at war would import the war itself to the European Union, which we [Hungary - TASS] do not want. The current state of Ukraine would weaken the European Union pretty much," Szijjarto explained when asked about Budapest’s stance on Ukraine’s potential membership.
The foreign minister also argued that Hungarian taxpayers should not be sending money to Ukraine as part of the EU’s support plans for Kiev. He called this unacceptable for Budapest. "The proposal of the European Commission for the next seven years would include more than 300 billion euros of support to Ukraine, which is not fair, which is unacceptable for us. We do not want the money of the Hungarian taxpayers to be brought to Ukraine. So under the current circumstances we definitely do not support Ukraine joining the European Union," Szijjarto said.
When asked about Hungary’s support measures for Ukraine, the top diplomat noted that the country is currently conducting "the largest humanitarian operation" in its history. According to him, Hungary is the leading supplier of electricity to Kiev and is also assisting Ukrainian refugees. However, Szijjarto stressed that Budapest is "not ready to ruin Hungary" and that Hungarians "have been paying the price of this war for too long."