Hungary openly opposed Ukraine’s accession to the EU: what Sijarto said in Chisinau
The Minister of Foreign Affairs and Trade of Hungary, Peter Szijarto, expressed the opinion that the process of accession of Ukraine and Moldova to the EU should be considered separately, referring to “serious problems” with Ukraine. During a joint press conference with his Moldovan counterpart in Chisinau, Sijarto also criticized the hypocrisy of many EU member states on the issue of enlargement. About this informs edition of IPN.
According to him, each country seeking to join the EU must be evaluated individually to avoid situations where weaker candidates hold back those who demonstrate better results.
“We will never accept that one country’s accession process should be influenced by another country, because then those who perform worse will hold back candidates who are faster in the process.”, he said.
He drew special attention to Ukraine, noting that it has a number of problems, in particular, in the field of the rights of the Hungarian minority. The minister stated that the Hungarian community in Ukraine faces restrictions on access to its culture and native language. He also mentioned the energy challenges that Ukraine created for two EU members — Hungary and Slovakia, which, in his opinion, “does not meet the standards for a candidate country for joining the EU.”
Sijarto also mentioned hypocrisy in Brussels regarding EU enlargement. According to him, many countries publicly declare their support for expansion, but behind closed doors express doubts or oppose it. Hungary, as the current head of the EU Council, intends to stop this hypocrisy and support enlargement. He also noted that the next presidency of Poland in the Council of the EU will continue this line.
It will be recalled that 70 members of the European Parliament signed a letter to the European Commission with the demand to suspend Hungary’s participation in the Schengen zone due to the easing of visa restrictions for citizens of the Russian Federation and Belarus.
Earlier, Szijarto promised that during the Hungarian presidency of the Council of the EU, maximum efforts will be made to advance the negotiations on Georgia’s accession.
