Orbán to Zelenskyy: President in Kyiv doesn't decide what Hungarian people think
Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán has responded to criticism from Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, who accused Orbán of blocking Kyiv's EU accession.
Source: Orbán on X (Twitter), as reported by European Pravda
Details: Speaking to journalists on Saturday 3 May, Zelenskyy criticised Orbán for doing "very dangerous things".
Zelenskyy believes that Orbán's actions to block Ukraine's European integration are connected to Kyiv's involvement in the domestic political struggle amid the upcoming 2026 elections in Hungary.
Quote from Orbán: "President Zelenskyy addressed the Hungarian people yesterday. Mr. President! What the Hungarian people think is not decided by the president in Kyiv or the bureaucrats in Brussels. There is no Ukrainian EU accession without Hungary. Every Hungarian will have their say on this. Whether you like it or not. That’s how we do things here."
Background:
- The Ukrainian government and the European Commission had ambitious plans for the pace of accession negotiations in 2025, but the Hungarian veto stood in the way.
- Budapest organised a consultative poll on Ukraine's accession to the EU, with Orbán publicly voting against it.
- Hungarian Foreign Minister Péter Szijjártó claimed that Zelenskyy "has to come to terms with the fact that Hungarians have every right to express their opinion on Ukraine’s fast-track EU accession".
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