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Why does Viktor Orban want to stop Ukraine’s accession to EU?
Orban fears Ukraine joining the EU would shift the power dynamics within the EU, with the United States gaining excessive influence in the region.
FILE PHOTO: Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban gestures at a joint press conference with Slovak Prime Minister Robert Fico in Budapest, Hungary, January 16, 2024. REUTERS/Bernadett Szabo/File Photo
Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban opposes Ukraine’s EU membership, as he believes it would disrupt the political equilibrium, according to Hungarian media.
Orban expressed his reservations during a meeting last spring with members of his Fidesz party and the opposition. Telex, a Hungarian newspaper that published an article about the meeting, says Orban asserted that Ukraine joining the EU would shift the power dynamics within the EU, with the United States gaining excessive influence in the region. In the same meeting, Orban purportedly conveyed that, based on intelligence information, the US assured Ukraine of expedited EU accession negotiations.
Orban fears US becoming more influential in Eastern Europe
Orban perceives this accession as a “geopolitical risk” due to the potential creation of a dominant political, economic, and military “power center” in Europe under US influence. This axis would consist of Poland, the Baltic countries, Ukraine, and Romania, nations either wary of a Russian threat or closely aligned with the United States.
Orban also revealed, in the same meeting, that his proposal to align the Visegrad Group (Hungary, Poland, the Czech Republic, and Slovakia) with the Franco-German axis for the purpose of “consolidating Eastern Europe” was rejected by France and Germany.
The PM expresses caution against Ukraine
Additionally, the Hungarian Prime Minister publicly voiced his opposition to Ukraine’s EU membership, citing concerns over the rights of the Hungarian minority in Transcarpathia, corruption in Ukraine, and potential adverse effects on other EU member states.
In an interview published by the French weekly Le Point, Orban cautioned against Ukraine’s EU accession, stating, “We must be cautious, as Ukraine is a huge country,” and predicting a “huge, disastrous impact on European economies, especially in the agricultural sector.” He further underscored his reservations about the financial implications, asserting that if Ukraine were to join the EU, France, for instance, would be required to contribute “more than 3.5 billion euros annually in addition to the common budget.”
Ukraine received the candidate status in December
However, despite his earlier stance, at the European summit in December, Orban withdrew his veto against the initiation of Ukraine’s EU accession negotiations. Instead, he obstructed EU financial aid to Ukraine, amounting to 50 billion euros over the next four years. The financial aid was approved on February 1, during the European Commission meeting in Brussels.
