The ruling Fidesz and Christian Democrat parties have submitted a draft resolution to parliament expressing their opposition to Ukraine starting talks on its accession to the European Union.
Fidesz’s group leader Máté Kocsis said in a post on Facebook that the European Commission cannot apply double standards, arguing that candidate countries had always had to meet all of the EU’s accession criteria. “There can’t be any exceptions because of current political or ideological considerations this time, either,” he said. “We can’t have Ukraine overtake the northern Balkan countries awaiting membership, especially without having met the conditions for starting accession talks, including those concerning the situation of minorities and the use of their mother tongue,” Kocsis said. He said it was unclear how Ukraine’s EU membership would affect the bloc’s budget or its cohesion and common agricultural policies, so EU leaders would have to discuss this “as a step zero”. Member states need to reach a consensus on this issue, but they aren’t there yet, he added. Kocsis said that because it was impossible to make a responsible decision at the start of Ukraine’s EU accession talks, the ruling parties were asking the government to represent this stance in the European Council and EU institutions. The proposed resolution published on parliament’s website says the European Commission’s proposal for starting accession talks with Ukraine is not well-prepared, inconsistent and does not take into consideration Hungary’s fundamental interests. It says parliament considers it necessary to hold a strategic debate on the EU’s Ukraine policy, adding that accession talks are “untimely” before this debate is settled. The draft resolution adds that Hungary’s parliament rejects all forms of political and financial pressure attempting to force Hungary to change its sovereign position.