While Prime Minister Viktor Orbán has been vocal for weeks about his doubts regarding Ukraine’s hastened EU accession, Europe’s leaders seem to have turned a blind eye to the obvious risks such a rushed step would incur. With the European Council summit kicking off tomorrow, MPs of the governing Fidesz-KDNP coalition deemed it necessary to equip the Hungarian government with a clear mandate on the issue, with the aim of making sure that Hungary’s national interests are properly considered at the Brussels meeting.
As Prime Minister Orbán also expressed in an exclusive interview that aired this morning with conservative weekly Mandiner, “Ukraine is not really in a position to start negotiations, but because of the war, for geostrategic reasons, let's say for political reasons, we have to start negotiations with them.” He added that he thinks it’s a grave mistake, one that is “destroying the European Union.”
Fidesz parliamentary group leader Máté Kocsis and KDNP group leader István Simicskó submitted the following 5-point resolution to the National Assembly:
- The National Assembly establishes that the preconditions related to the progress of Ukraine's European Union accession process, as determined in the conclusions adopted by the European Council at its meeting on June 23-24, 2022, have not been met. The European Union's enlargement policy must remain an objective process based on rules and performance.
- The National Assembly deems it necessary to hold a strategic debate on all elements of the European Union's policy toward Ukraine. The strategic debate should extend to the security policy interests of the European Union, the utilization and sustainability of the support provided to Ukraine, and the impact of the enlargement on the economies of the member states as well as on the European Union's defining policies. Decisions related to Ukraine's accession negotiations with the European Union are not timely before the conclusion of such a strategic debate. The European Commission's proposal to start accession negotiations with Ukraine is unprepared, inconsistent, and disregards the fundamental interests of Hungary.
- Decisions related to the expansion of the European Union require a consensus that respects the interests of the member states. The National Assembly condemns and rejects any political and financial pressure that seeks to force Hungary to change its sovereign stance.
- The National Assembly calls on the government to represent the above position in the European Council and in the institutions of the European Union during decisions related to Ukraine's accession process.
- This resolution comes into effect the day after its publication.