Strategic partnership instead of EU membership: Orban in Paris again opposed Ukraine's accession to the EU

During a visit to Paris, Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban once again emphasized Ukraine's corruption and opposed the start of negotiations on its accession to the EU. This is stated in an interview with Orban to the publication Le Point, reports UNN.

Details

Orban said that he opposes the start of negotiations with Ukraine, explaining two reasons. According to Orban, Ukrainians "are not ready for negotiations" and Europeans "are not ready to accept them as full members".

According to him, Hungary, as a neighbor of Ukraine, "knows exactly what is happening in Ukraine".

SEE ALSO: Orban proposed an agreement "up to 5-10 years" on a strategic partnership between Ukraine and the EU instead of membership negotiations

The European Commission's report that four of the seven preconditions have already been met is simply not true. Ukraine is known to be one of the most corrupt countries in the world. This is a joke! We cannot make a decision to start the accession process

He also explained that Ukraine's accession to the EU would lead to additional costs, as it would have to contribute more than 3.5 billion euros to the EU's common budget.

He also warned of dire consequences for EU agriculture. He said that Ukraine is a large country with a lot of agriculture, so if it enters the European agricultural system, it will destroy it the very next day.

Addendum 

Hungarian Prime Minister urged the EU not to repeat with Ukraine "the same mistakes we made with Turkey". According to him, a strategic partnership agreement should be concluded with Ukraine, including an agreement on various issues such as agriculture, customs, and security.

SEE ALSO: European Commission responds to Orban after statements on the issue of starting membership talks with Ukraine

Ukraine is having a hard time, it is suffering from the Russian invasion, and we decided to support it. Therefore, it is legitimate for the entire European Council to send good signals to Ukraine. I am in favor of that. However, there are other types of signals that need to be sent than opening negotiations on membership in the European Union. We should not do this

To recap

Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban called for the decision to start negotiations on Ukraine's accession to the EU to be removed from the agenda of the EU summit. He wrote a letter to the President of the European Council Charles Michel.