Hungary opposes Ukraine's accession to the EU, threatening a veto, but Budapest is not against EU enlargement entirely: Prime Minister Orbán backs the Western Balkans and supports Moldova and Georgia in a complex balancing act.

Budapest

Hungary has taken a dual stance on European Union enlargement, backing the EU membership applications of Western Balkans countries while firmly opposing Ukraine's bid to join the bloc. Prime Minister Viktor Orban's opposition to Ukraine's accession is consistent with his government's position since the onset of Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine, citing fears of escalating the conflict and concerns over EU financial resources.

Orban argues that admitting Ukraine could draw the EU into the ongoing war and would require significant financial support from the union's cohesion and agricultural funds. In contrast, he believes that integrating Western Balkans countries would promote political stability in the region, where Hungary maintains significant economic interests, especially in the energy and banking sectors.

Hungary backs Western Balkans but opposes Ukraine’s EU bid

Hungary has two different positions on the enlargement of the European Union. On the one hand, the Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban supports the applications by candidate countries in the Western Balkans. On the other hand, he rejects the possibility of Ukraine becoming a member state. His opposition is in line with the Hungarian leader's stance since the beginning of Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine. Budapest, which makes no secret of its ties with Moscow, says it fears an escalation of the war to one between Europe and Russia, and has been consistently in favour of negotiations with Russia. I don't want Hungary to be a member of an alliance that has a new member, who is constantly in a state of war, and can invade us at any time, because now I can say that the Ukrainian-Russian war is not our war, but if Ukraine becomes a member of the EU, it will become our war, and we don't want that. Another argument used by Orban is that Ukraine's possible entry would be costly for the EU, as a large part of the cohesion funds and agricultural policy would then be redirected to Kiev. At the same time, he argues that EU accession of countries in the Western Balkans would bring them political stability. Budapest currently has significant economic interests in the region, particularly in the energy and banking sectors.

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Breakdown