Economy 6 December 2023, 1:20pm

German foreign minister castigates Orbán over stance on Ukraine

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German Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock has harshly criticised Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán for wanting to take the EU accession of Ukraine off the agenda at next week's EU summit. Hungarian Foreign Minister Péter Szijjártó said that Baerbock misunderstands the situation, that the Hungarian position is well-founded and that Ukraine is not yet ready for accession. Meanwhile, Hungary's ruling Fidesz-KDNP coalition has tabled a parliamentary resolution to get the Hungarian legislature to block Ukraine's EU accession.

Yesterday, German Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock visited Slovenia, where she spoke about the war in Ukraine, the EU and the enlargement of the single market in the Balkans. She also criticised Serbian President Aleksandar Vučić for cozying up to Russia, and Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán for unduly delaying Ukraine's accession to the European Union.

We have no time for games at this moment. If we are in a situation where peace in Europe is under attack, then we must do everything we can every day and every hour to protect our people, and even more so the people of Ukraine, in the best possible way,

Baerbock said in Ljubljana.

Politico reminded that the EU had planned to approve the launch of enlargement talks and the disbursement of €50 billion in financial support for Ukraine during its December 14-15 summit. But those steps require unanimity among all 27 EU leaders, allowing Orbán to threaten a veto.

Diplomats disagree on whether the Hungarian leader is determined to derail support for Ukraine or whether he’s again trying to blackmail Brussels, with the aim of unblocking more than €13 billion in EU funds for Hungary which have been withheld over rule-of-law concerns.

Baerbock reacted critically to the latest threat issued by Orbán on Monday. The Hungarian leader wrote to European Council President Charles Michel to urge him to remove talks on opening accession negotiations with Ukraine from the agenda of next week’s EU leaders’ summit.

Minister of Foreign Affairs and Trade Péter Szijjártó reacted to his German counterpart's words in the evening, writing on his Facebook page that "the Minister has fundamentally misunderstood the situation."

Szijjártó stressed that the Hungarian government is not trying to blackmail the EU or Ukraine, but is pursuing a "thoughtful and well-founded" position.

Ukraine is simply too far away from being ready to join or even to negotiate accession, so it would be more timely to develop a strategic partnership first,

the minister echoed his boss.

Today, Fidesz-KDNP submitted a resolution to the National Assembly on the issue, in which the two governing parties ask the legislature to block Ukraine's EU accession process for the time being.

There is no way that Ukraine can come before the northern Balkan countries that are waiting to join. Moreover, it has not even fulfilled the necessary conditions to start negotiations - just think of the situation of minorities and their language use,

wrote Máté Kocsis, the head of the parliamentary group of Fidesz on his Facebook page.

The Parliament's decision does not constitute any legal commitment to the EU negotiating process, and the move can be seen as a gesture of domestic policy rather than a binding measure.

Cover photo: MTI Photo/Zoltán Fischer