Hungarian PM says he worked against Ukraine's EU accession progress and claims Orbán was once pro-Ukraine

Hungarian Prime Minister Peter Magyar has said that he opposes the opening of all negotiating clusters in Ukraine's EU accession talks and that his position on the issue is stronger than that of his predecessor, Viktor Orbán.

Source: Magyar at a press conference in Brussels following the EU summit, as reported by European Pravda

Details: Magyar began his remarks by accusing Orbán of previously supporting Ukraine's accession to the European Union. "I will not reveal a great secret when I say that there are those who would like to accelerate Ukraine's accession. Viktor Orbán used to belong to that club," he said.

Magyar claimed that at the beginning of 2022, before the full-scale invasion, Orbán wrote an official open letter to European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen arguing that Ukraine should be admitted to the EU. "A year later, he repeated that request together with Péter Szijjártó, when the war was already underway," the prime minister said.

"So even Viktor Orbán once belonged to that club, but one day he woke up and decided that, from a political and electoral standpoint, it would be more advantageous for him to join the camp of those opposing Ukraine and using vetoes," Magyar stated.

He also insisted that his government has been systematically fighting against Ukraine's rapid accession to the EU and has succeeded in ensuring that "provisions implying that all other clusters would be opened immediately after the first one" were removed from the text.

Quote: "We do not think this is a good idea. First, because the first cluster has only just been opened. Second, it sends the wrong signal to the Western Balkan countries that have been working towards accession, some of which even changed the names of their states, rewrote their constitutions and made major sacrifices in order to become EU members."

Details: Magyar said that Hungary has been systematically working against this from the stage of consultations at ambassadorial level. He claimed that it was at Hungary's initiative that wording was added to the decision stating that the opening of the remaining five clusters must be "merit-based", meaning dependent on reform results: "We insisted that this process should be based on merit and results, just as it is for everyone else." As European Pravda has explained, this extends the time required to open the clusters.

The prime minister also said that a phrase calling for the clusters to be opened "as soon as possible" had been removed from the decision at the last moment and claimed that Hungary had secured this change. The phrase is indeed absent from the final decision, although it appeared in earlier drafts.

Background:

• Magyar also spoke about his meeting with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy.
• Earlier, Magyar boasted that he had "crossed out" the prospect of Ukraine's rapid accession from the EU summit conclusions.

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