Prime Minister Viktor Orbán said in Brussels late on Thursday that Ukraine's EU accession has been stopped in its tracks thanks to the outcome of the government's Vote 2025 public survey on the issue of the country's bid to join the European Union.
In a video uploaded to the social media page of journalist Daniel Bohar, the prime minister said he had needed the backing of the Hungarian public since the leaders of EU member states at the summit were unanimous in their opposition to Hungary's position and were foursquare behind Ukraine's endeavours to join the bloc and, later, NATO.
Allowing Ukraine to join NATO would involve the alliance in a war with Russia and would lead to a third world war, he added.
People who backed Ukraine's aspirations held a "belligerent stance" and considered that "this war must be won and can be won".
Slovaks and Hungarians, however, "do not see a solution on the battlefield", PM Orbán said, adding that he declared that Hungary would not agree to the start of negotiations with Ukraine "for fundamental and strategic reasons".
He said this declaration had a "shocking effect" in Brussels, "even though I tried to say this politely and in a measured way, supported by arguments..."
In response to the statement of the European Commission's president and some prime ministers that Ukraine met the criteria for EU accession, "I had to remind them that the most important criterion is for there to be an actual country" with "borders, a population, and territory", and without which "there is no point in talking about any other criteria", he said.
"Legally, it may be stated where its borders should be, but today this is territory occupied by the Russians," he said.
PM Orbán also said its economic data was that of a country at war, so it was impossible to find an economic strategy commensurate with long-term membership of the bloc.
He said the commission's president and European People's Party head Manfred Weber were trying to force on Hungary a "puppet government" to ensure a pro-Ukrainian vassal subordinated to Brussels.
"When they encounter ... the Hungarian national position and prime minister, which are not at their mercy and cannot be blackmailed by them, it hits them like a cold shower," he said. "But they'll get through this somehow," PM Orbán added.