Подготовка к голосованию в Венгрии о вступлении Украины в ЕС сопровождается антиукраинской агитацией
In mid-April 2025, a nationwide vote on Ukraine’s accession to the European Union will begin in Hungary. As part of this campaign, special anti-Ukrainian campaign materials are sent to voters along with ballots by mail. As reported by the Hungarian publication hvg.hu, these materials contain a list of alleged threats and negative consequences for Hungary in the event of Ukraine joining the EU.
Parliamentary State Secretary of the Prime Minister’s Office, Balazs Hidvegi, stated in another video message that Ukraine’s accession could cause serious problems for the Hungarian population. According to him, this, in particular, threatens the pension system, can cause epidemics, lead to the influx of cheap and low-quality agricultural products from Ukraine, the spread of organized crime and the displacement of Hungarians from the labor market.
Hidvegi also said that from mid-April, citizens will start receiving voting packages, which, in addition to the ballot, will contain a document outlining the «consequences and risks» that, according to the government, Ukraine’s accession to the European Union may cause.
This supplementary material lists seven main threats, including:
— Hungary will become a net payer country to the EU budget, as financial assistance will be redirected to Ukraine;
— Hungarian farmers will lose subsidies from the EU;
— Ukrainian labor migrants, according to the government, will flood the labor market and deprive Hungarians of jobs;
— the pension system, especially the payment of the thirteenth pension, will be under threat;
— Ukrainian organized crime will appear in Hungary;
— low-quality, genetically modified agricultural products from Ukraine will enter the Hungarian market;
— after Ukraine’s accession to the EU, infectious diseases may spread in Hungary due to differences in vaccination systems.
Although the open position of the Hungarian government regarding the European integration course of Ukraine has been known for a long time, the distribution of such materials together with the ballots became another confirmation that the official Budapest opposes Ukraine’s membership in the EU.
We will remind, on March 14, the President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelenskyy publicly stated that the process of making a decision on Ukraine’s accession to the European Union is being blocked by only one country — Hungary. On March 20, it became known that the final document of the European Council based on the results of the summit was supported by all EU member states, with the exception of Hungary.
On March 23, Hungarian Foreign Minister Péter Szijártó confirmed that his country would not agree to the further progress of negotiations on Ukraine’s EU membership until the issue of the rights of the Hungarian national minority in Zakarpattia, which he said had been curtailed in 2015, was resolved.
