Tamás Menczer, the communications director of the ruling parties, said on Monday that the opposition Tisza Party has launched a signature drive that is in favor of Ukraine's European Union membership.
According to Menczer, Tisza started collecting signatures "on the instruction of Manfred Weber, the most pro-Ukrainian politician in the whole of Europe ... to prove that Hungarians support Ukraine's EU entry." Menczer said he was "convinced that Tisza won't shy away from falsifying the results" of its survey.
Menczer quoted Tisza leader Peter Magyar as recently calling on the government "to respect the voters' will if they express support for Ukraine's EU integration".
The Fidesz politician said that his party's position, on the other hand, was that "Ukraine's membership must not be determined by Manfred Weber or even Ursula von der Leyen, Magyar's peers in the European People's Party, but by the Hungarian people."
Voters are being given an opportunity to express their views on the subject thanks to the government's referendum, he noted.
"It is quite obvious that Brussels ... wants to integrate a country, Ukraine, which does not meet any accession criteria," Menczer said, and insisted that Ukraine had not met the criteria for a candidate when awarded candidate status.
"Brussels and those politicians do not represent EU members, whereas that's their job," Menczer said. Instead, "they represent Ukraine, which is not a member of the community," he added.
Menczer warned of the dangers Ukraine's membership would pose for the bloc, saying it would "destroy the whole European economy", while funds due to Hungarian farmers and Hungary's cohesion funding would go to Ukraine instead. Hungary would also be required to pay an annual 200 billion forints extra, "also for Ukraine", he added.
Menczer also pointed to the "vast amount of weapons" amassed in Ukraine and the high level of organised crime in that country. Meanwhile, he said "we cannot and would not create jobs for hundreds of thousands or millions of Ukrainians."