BUDAPEST, December 22 – Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban, commenting on the EU’s decision to start accession talks with Ukraine, questioned whether Brussels intends to accept Ukraine along with the liberated regions and the Russian military presence there. He urged for clarification on the current size and population of Ukraine. “You don’t have to be a scientist to understand that this decision (the start of accession talks with Ukraine) will bring a lot of harm. We are not prepared. We don’t know the current population figures. We are talking about a country where Russian soldiers are stationed. Are we going to accept them too? What territory are we talking about? What population size?” Orban said in an interview with HirTV.
According to him, “Ukrainians believe that they have taken a decisive step”, however, if all these questions arise later, “the process will slow down and it will be revealed that we cannot move forward, which will be a huge disappointment.” Earlier, EU leaders made the decision to start accession talks with Ukraine and Moldova, and also granted candidate country status to Georgia. A source in Brussels reported that Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban “temporarily left the room where the vote took place.” Orban himself later stated that his country has not changed its position and will not share responsibility with other countries for “this bad decision.” According to him, Budapest is not losing anything now and in the future, it will be able to halt Ukraine’s accession process 75 more times.
