Zelensky on his conversation with Orban: He asked to name at least one reason for blocking EU membership

Zelensky on his conversation with Orban: He asked to name at least one reason for blocking EU membership

Kyiv  •  UNN

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Zelenskyy explicitly asked Hungarian Prime Minister Orban to name the only reason for blocking Ukraine's EU membership application

President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said that during a meeting with Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban, he asked him to name at least one reason for blocking Ukraine's membership in the EU. He said this during a joint press conference with participants in the Nordic Summit, a UNN correspondent reports.

"I cannot say that it was a special meeting, or deliberately planned. We had a dialog - this is true. I think that we need to organize a very constructive meeting between our states because we have common borders, we are neighbors, and we need to talk. One of the very important topics that I raised with him was precisely the fact that we need to talk, to solve problems, but I really don't see a global problem in this issue. That's why we just need to meet. I showed him my positive attitude to such an idea," Zelensky said.

Zelenskyy noted that during the meeting with Orban, he was very direct and told him that he had no reason to block Ukraine's membership in the EU

"Second, I think I was right, and I gave him very direct information - he has no reason to block Ukraine's membership in the EU. I asked him to give me at least one reason, not three, not five, not ten. Give me one reason, and I'm waiting for an answer," Zelensky said.

Addendum

Earlier, Zelenskiy reported that he spoke "as frankly as possible" with Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban during the inauguration ceremony of the newly elected president of Argentina. 

On December 8, it was reported that during a visit to Paris, Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban once again spoke of Ukraine's corruption and opposed the start of negotiations on its accession to the EU.

On December 12, Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba saidthat there is not a single country in the European Union that does not want to see Ukraine join the EU. There is only Hungary, which wants a slower accession process and to study the consequences of Ukraine's accession more carefully.

Kuleba met with Hungarian Foreign Minister Peter Szijjarto on December 11.