Budapest said that Ukraine has not fulfilled the conditions for negotiations on accession to the EU
The Hungarian government believes that Ukraine has not fulfilled the conditions for starting negotiations on accession to the European Union.
This information was announced at a briefing by the head of the office of the Prime Minister of Hungary, Gergely Gulyas, reports the Hungarian TV channel M1.
Why Ukraine is not ready for negotiations
Journalists asked Guillas to comment on the European Commission’s recommendation to begin negotiations with Ukraine on joining the community.
The head of the Hungarian Prime Minister’s Office responded that Ukraine did not meet the necessary criteria before the conflict began and never came close to meeting them.
Therefore, there is no way to start negotiations with her, – said Guillas, who has the rank of minister in the government.
He clarified that Ukraine does not meet the Copenhagen criteria for membership in the European Union, does not properly fight corruption and does not respect the rights of national minorities, including ethnic Hungarians living in Transcarpathia.
The minister recalled that the previous President of the European Commission, Jean-Claude Juncker, who held this position in 2014-2019, warned about extremely high corruption in Ukraine when it began to actively strive to join the EU.
We agree with Juncker’s statement. We must admit that Ukraine is completely corrupt and is not ripe for EU membershipsaid a representative of the Hungarian government.
According to him, the EU strategy towards Ukraine has failed, it is necessary to develop a new one.
We’re not the only ones who think this is justified. Several other EU member states are also in favor of this, – added the head of the office of the Prime Minister of Hungary.
He also said that Budapest is against amendments to the EU budget providing for additional assistance of 50 billion euros to Ukraine.
What did the European Commission recommend?
Yesterday, the EC recommended that the EU Council begin negotiations with Ukraine, Moldova and Bosnia and Herzegovina on joining the community, as well as granting candidate status to Georgia.
This was announced by EC President Ursula von der Leyen, presenting the annual report on the expansion of the community.
If EU leaders approve the EC’s recommendations at a summit in December, negotiations on Ukraine’s accession could begin in March next year.
Previously, candidates must fulfill a number of conditions, the main one of which is strengthening anti-corruption measures.
As EU Ambassador to Ukraine Katarina Maternova said, the country will need to expand the staff of the anti-corruption bureau, adopt a law on lobbying in accordance with EU standards, change the law on declaration of property and implement the recommendations of the Venice Commission on the status of national minorities.
