Hungary will not agree to starting EU membership talks with Ukraine, minister says

Published November 30, 2023 6:56 AM

By JUSTIN SPIKE
Associated Press

BUDAPEST, Hungary (AP) — The chief of staff to Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán says Hungary will not support any European Union proposal to begin talks on making Ukraine a member of the bloc. Speaking at a news conference on Thursday, Gergely Gulyas, said it was premature to begin formal membership talks with Kyiv and that Hungary would not consent to opening the discussions when EU leaders meet in mid-December. Orbán is widely considered one of Russian President Vladimir Putin’s closest allies in Europe. He has argued that accession negotiations should not begin with a country that is at war and that making Ukraine a member would reorient the EU’s system of distributing funds to its 27 existing countries.

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