Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban, arriving at the European Union summit, once again insists that Ukraine has not fulfilled the conditions necessary to start negotiations on EU membership, Ukrinform reports.
"Enlargement is not a theoretical issue. Enlargement is a legally grounded, merit-based process that contains conditions. We have set seven conditions, and even the European Commission's assessment - three out of seven - has not been fulfilled. Therefore, there is no reason to negotiate Ukraine's membership now," he told reporters in Brussels on Thursday.
Orban noted that the conditions were not set by Hungary, but by the European Commission.
"Conditions are conditions. Out of seven, three have not been fulfilled. Even three are enough to say, 'Guys, if you haven't fulfilled the conditions, then there is no chance to start negotiations,'" the Hungarian prime minister said.
He rejected claims that the reason for blocking the Ukrainian issue is Budapest's financial interest: "It's not about a deal, we represent principles."
Answering a question about financial support for Ukraine, the Hungarian prime minister said that "giving money to Ukraine is easy to do because in the short term, this money is already in the budget."
"No extra decisions are needed to do this in the short term. In the long term, and when we are talking about large amounts, my position is to give this money outside (the EU budget)," Orban detailed.
