Orbán cabinet: Hungary would lose all EU funds if Ukraine joined the EU

The government views the question of Ukraine’s EU accession solely through the lens of Hungary’s national interests, the parliamentary state secretary of the Prime Minister’s Cabinet Office said on Tuesday.

Balázs Hidvéghi said that opposition Democratic Coalition MEP Olga Kálmán may have been “outraged” by the government’s referendum on the issue of Ukraine’s EU accession, but there was “no room for emotions” or anything that could override the interests of the Hungarian people.

“Whoever says yes to Ukraine today says no to EU funds,” he said in a video uploaded to Facebook. “All the money would go to Ukraine,” he added. He said Hungarian interests should not be mixed up “with the compassion we feel” for suffering Ukrainians.

Hidvéghi insisted that “Brussels wants to force” Ukraine’s accession “against the Hungarian national interest”, and while this may benefit “certain business groups” and “certain circles”, it was not in the interest of the peoples of central Europe, including Hungarians.

“All EU funds that Hungarians benefit from today … would go to Ukraine for reconstruction, agricultural subsidies and armaments,” he said.

‘Magyar may deny it, but Brussels wants to fast-track Ukraine into EU’, Fidesz MEP says

Even though opposition Tisza Party leader Peter Magyar may deny it, various resolutions and statements “prove that Brussels wants to fast-track Ukraine’s EU accession”, Fidesz MEP Csaba Dömötör told Hungarian journalists in Brussels on Tuesday.

He said certain Hungarian politicians, including Magyar, were attempting to brand the accession moves as “a lie” and “not even possible”, yet European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen recently said in Kyiv that Ukraine could become an EU member before 2030. Dömötör said: “What’s this if not fast-tracking?”

Also, EU enlargement commissioner Marta Kos has started to campaign to gain support for Ukrainian membership, he added, citing her as saying that Ukraine would become deeply integrated into the European economy “no matter what”.

He cited her as saying that this was “already happening” and “we will speed it up”. Dömötör insisted that the EU wanted to accelerate Ukraine’s integration into parts of the single market.

The commissioner also talked of how the EU was “aware of the consequences” for Ukraine’s neighbours, including Hungary, Poland and Slovakia.

The Fidesz MEP said the screening process was taking place “with unprecedented speed” and the Commission was helping Ukraine full steam ahead.

“The enlargement plans are a priority for the Commission,” he said, adding that they were not even holding a debate on the matter and failing to address basic questions such as the consequences of admitting “a country at war and full of weapons” to the bloc.

Dömötör said no questions were asked about the burden to the EU budget or the budgets of member states, or indeed what impact all this would have on European agriculture and Hungarian farmers.

He cited the “European Commission-funded” Jacques Delors Institute as estimating funding for Hungary shrinking by 15-22 percent. “But they say not a word about this in the European Parliament,” he added. “What we’re seeing is a highly elite policy implemented by excluding voters…” he said.

Read also:

• PM Orbán: Ukraine not sovereign, cannot join the EU – read more HERE
• Péter Magyar: Orbán cabinet demanded Ukraine’s EU accession before

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