EU state claims fellow member is ‘against Europe’

Hungary’s stance on Ukraine suggests that it is opposed to European values, Lithuanian Foreign Minister Gabrielius Landsbergis claimed on Monday while addressing an EU foreign ministers’ event.

Hungary actively opposes the EU’s continued military and financial support to Ukraine, and has objected to any negotiations on fast-tracking its potential accession to the bloc.

“The only way I can read the Hungarian position, not just on Ukraine, but on many other issues, is that they are against Europe and everything that Europe stands for,” Landsbergis said, describing a “clash of ideologies” in the EU between those who want the union to be strong and those who don’t want it to exist at all.

The minister warned that unless a “rational solution” to the issue is found, “dark times can lie ahead.”

Landsbergis’s comments came after European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen announced that the issue of Ukraine’s accession to the EU would be taken off the agenda of the bloc’s summit this week. Instead, members will only discuss whether to launch membership talks with Kiev, she said.

Her announcement came after Hungary, along with several other EU members, openly opposed negotiations on fast-tracking Ukraine’s candidacy. Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban has repeatedly stressed that Kiev still has a long way to go before it can be considered for membership, and has opposed expanding EU aid to Ukraine. As the leader of an EU member state, Orban is able to veto both proposals.

The Hungarian prime minister has argued in recent weeks that it’s unrealistic to believe Kiev can defeat Moscow militarily, and described Ukraine as “one of the most corrupt countries in the world.”

Orban has also insisted that the EU is not yet ready to accept a country with such a large farming sector as Ukraine. He claimed that if Kiev were to suddenly enter the bloc, it would destroy the union’s agricultural system “the next day.” 

Meanwhile, Kiev has insisted that it has already fulfilled all preconditions for joining the bloc, and has demanded that member states recognize its efforts. “We can jump, we can dance” if requested to do so, Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmitry Kuleba said, urging the bloc to “play fairly.”