German State Secretary Gunther Krichbaum described Hungary’s behavior as “increasingly destructive” and accused Budapest of slowing down the EU.
Hungary is blocking the European Union’s annual position on the enlargement process due to its rejection of accession negotiations with Ukraine. This was stated by the Danish Minister for European Affairs Marie Bjerreová on Tuesday, writes TASR based on a report by the DPA agency.
According to Bjerre, the government of Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán claims that it will not support a positive assessment of developments in Ukraine. However, according to her, this cannot be excluded from the document, as it was supported by all other EU states.
Criticism and position of Denmark
“We have 26 member countries that show strong support for Ukraine,” the Danish minister, whose country chairs the EU Council from July 1 until the end of the year, said in Brussels. “The wording of the text about Ukraine is just and fair,” she added.
German State Secretary for European Affairs Gunther Krichbaum criticized Hungary’s behavior as “increasingly destructive” and accused Budapest of slowing down the EU.
Budapest’s veto
Hungary’s veto means that Ukraine cannot count on the start of official EU accession negotiations. Nevertheless, according to Bjerreová, this process takes place unofficially.
“It means that we are giving Ukraine instructions on how to reform, what to focus on, what the majority of member countries want the country to do,” said the Danish minister. According to her, the access process is thus “alive”.
The DPA agency writes that thanks to this, Ukraine would be able to make rapid progress in a short time, if Hungary decides to waive its veto in the future. This is what the current Hungarian government is using for the alleged large financial claims of Ukraine and the disadvantage of the Hungarian minority in Ukraine.
