Hungarian Prime Minister Peter Magyar said Ukraine is currently “obviously not ready” to join the European Union and should not receive any special or accelerated accession procedure. He also again linked Ukraine’s further progress toward EU membership to the implementation of agreements concerning the rights of the ethnic Hungarian minority in Zakarpattia.
Magyar made the remarks on September 3 while speaking to journalists, according to Hungary’s state news agency MTI.
The Hungarian prime minister said Budapest would support Ukraine’s accession to the EU only “on the basis of merit” and provided that all necessary criteria are met.
“Ukraine is a country at war, and it is obviously not ready to join the EU. Whatever EU leaders or leaders of member states may be trying to suggest to Ukraine, I believe that is wrong,” Magyar said.
He also opposed any accelerated procedure for Ukraine’s accession to the European Union.
Magyar separately raised the issue of the ethnic Hungarian minority in Zakarpattia. According to him, Ukraine and Hungary had reached a political agreement on restoring language, education, cultural, administrative and other rights for ethnic Hungarians.
The Hungarian prime minister claimed that the agreement included specific deadlines for implementation, but that Budapest had not yet seen sufficient progress from the Ukrainian side.
In recent years, Hungary has used the issue of the rights of ethnic Hungarians in Zakarpattia as one of its main conditions for supporting further progress in Ukraine’s EU accession talks.
At the same time, Magyar’s remarks do not indicate that failure to implement the agreements on the Hungarian minority is the only reason he considers Ukraine unready for membership. In his response, he separately cited the fact that Ukraine is at war and opposed any special or accelerated accession track.
