Hungary's veto threat: Ukraine's EU hopes in jeopardy
There will be no accession of Ukraine to the European Union without Hungary's consent, Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban wrote on Sunday in response to criticism of the Hungarian authorities by Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky on Saturday.
"What the Hungarian people think is not decided by the president in Kyiv or the bureaucrats in Brussels. There is no Ukrainian EU accession without Hungary. Every Hungarian will have their say on this. Whether you like it or not. That’s how we do things here," Orban wrote on the X platform.
On Saturday, Zelensky stated, as quoted by the Ukrainian Pravda service, that by blocking Ukraine's accession to the EU, Orban wants to leverage the Ukrainian issue ahead of the parliamentary elections in Hungary planned for 2026.
According to the president, this plan will not yield the results desired by the Hungarian government, since most Hungarians support Ukraine.
On Saturday, Hungarian Foreign Minister Peter Szijjarto also responded to Zelensky's words.
"The President of Ukraine must accept that every Hungarian has the right to express their views on Ukraine’s accelerated EU accession. After all, Ukraine wants to join a union Hungary is already a member of, not the other way around… Kyiv should choose its tone accordingly," Szijjarto wrote on the X platform.
Currently, there is a non-binding, postal referendum taking place in Hungary. The government is asking citizens for their opinion on Ukraine's accession to the EU.
Referendum in Hungary on Ukraine
The ballots distributed to all households contain one question: "Do you support Ukraine's membership in the European Union?" Every adult citizen will be able to send back their response no later than 20th June.
The opposition party TISZA also conducted its referendum between March and April: 58% of respondents supported Ukraine's entry into the EU. A total of 1,137,266 people exercised their right to express their opinion.
