By BRUSSELS. Dec 14 (Interfax-Ukraine) – Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán, arriving at the European Union summit, again insists that Ukraine has not fulfilled the conditions necessary to begin negotiations on membership in the Union.
On Thursday in Brussels, he told reporters that enlargement is not a theoretical issue, it is a legislatively based process that is merit-based, which contains conditions. He said seven conditions have been set, and even the European Commission’s assessment, three out of seven, has not been met. According to him, there is no reason to negotiate Ukraine’s membership now.
Orbán said the conditions were determined not by Hungary, but by the European Commission. The Hungarian Prime Minister said conditions are conditions. Of the seven, three were not completed. Even three is enough to say, if Ukraine hasn’t fulfilled the conditions, then there is no chance to start negotiations, he also said.
He rejected the assertion that the reason for blocking the Ukrainian issue is the financial interest of Budapest. Orbán said it is not about a deal, the Commission’s officials represent principles.
Answering a question about financial support for Ukraine, the Hungarian Prime Minister said that giving money to Ukraine is easy to do, because in the short term this money is already in the budget. Orbán detailed that no extra solutions are needed to do this in the short term. In the long term, and when this is about large sums, his position is to give this money outside the EU budget.
