Facebook statement by Prime Minister Viktor Orbán

For Hungary this isn’t the first such battle here. We do not agree to the creation of a joint European position which includes Hungary and which is pro-war. Over the last three years Hungarian families have lost around 2.5 million forints per household because of the war. I have to stop this, this must stop. We must not allow the war’s economic consequences to continue to be paid by Hungarian families. The only way to do this is to persuade Europe that – instead of embarking on military adventures – it should quite simply support the President of the United States in his peace efforts. And then there will be peace. This is the debate that took place. We weren’t able to convince each other, and I have vetoed the joint position. The President of Ukraine was also involved in this debate – and I wouldn’t say that he contributed in a friendly way. The Ukrainian president misunderstands his role: he’s behaving as if he were already in the European Union, and therefore as if he can afford to adopt a more strident tone. But he can’t: he’s an applicant who wants to join the European Union. In Hungary we’re currently asking Hungarians what they think about Ukraine’s accession to the European Union. There’s no point in President Zelenskyy trying to rush us on this. He can even perform acrobatic stunts if he likes: I cannot support him on this until we know the opinion of the Hungarians.