Péter Szijjártó, Minister of Foreign Affairs and Trade, said it is "unacceptable" that Brussels and several western member states are "constantly hampering" European Union enlargement in the Western Balkans while wanting to fast-track the admission of Ukraine despite it being in far worse shape.
Speaking in Skopje on Friday, after talks with North Macedonian counterpart Timco Mucunski, Minister Szijjártó said the ongoing armed conflicts in and around Europe present the continent with serious security and economic challenges, making EU enlargement in the Western Balkans all the more important.
Minister Szijjártó said enlargement would bring significant economic and security benefits, and it was "a serious mistake on the part of Brussels and the western member states to constantly hamper the process".
He said that while Brussels and several western EU member states publicly supported enlargement, the Western Balkan countries have been waiting for EU membership for an average of over 15 years.
Hungary, he said, considered it "unacceptable" that while Brussels was pushing to fast-track Ukraine’s accession to the bloc, it was "constantly hampering the accession of the Western Balkan countries, which are far more developed, far more prepared and in much better shape".
Whereas Ukraine’s accession would cause "serious harm and difficulties", the accession of the Western Balkan countries would clearly improve the European Union’s economic and security situation", he added.
Hungary will therefore give the Western Balkan states all the support they need in order to join the EU as soon as possible, Minister Szijjártó said. "We believe North Macedonia is absolutely prepared, and we urge the start of real and meaningful talks with it as soon as possible," he said.
Meanwhile, he said the two countries on Friday signed an agreement on continuing a scholarship scheme as part of which Hungary offers scholarships to 20 North Macedonian students each year. They also signed a comprehensive intergovernmental strategic agreement under which Hungarian businesses will take part in the development of North Macedonia’s transport, energy and telecommunications infrastructure, he said.
In response to a question, Minister Szijjártó acknowledged that Bulgaria was openly blocking North Macedonia’s EU integration aspirations, underlining, however, that this was not the reason why there had not been any progress for 20 years.
"Right now EU enlargement in the Western Balkans is supported by a minority of member states," Minister Szijjártó said. "We are sincere supporters of enlargement in the Western Balkans, and so we’re in a minority."
He emphasised that though the majority of member states were publicly in favour of North Macedonia joining the bloc, "when it’s the 27 of us behind closed doors, they tend to talks about why European Union enlargement in the Western Balkans is impossible."
He said that while Hungary had pushed to advance the integration of the Western Balkan countries during its presidency of the Council of the EU last year, it had "kept hitting a wall". "And these walls are being put up by countries that are publicly always in favour of enlargement," he added.