Discussions are emerging in Budapest regarding Ukraine’s economic integration into the European Union, without waiting for its official membership. Hungary’s Foreign Minister Peter Szijjarto reported that at the EU Foreign Affairs Council meeting, many participants expressed support for starting negotiations on Ukraine’s EU membership as early as this year.
This is reported by Finway
Szijjarto also noted that the EU commissioner proposed an <blockquote>“impressive idea”</blockquote> — to implement full economic integration for Ukraine by the time of its official accession to the European Union. He emphasized that nearly all EU member states and Brussels are pressuring the Hungarian government to expedite Ukraine’s EU membership process.
At the same time, the minister pointed out that he <blockquote>“clearly made it known”</blockquote> that decisions should be made only by Hungarian citizens, stressing the planned thematic advisory vote for Hungarians in April and May.
The leader of the opposition party <blockquote>“Tisza”</blockquote>, Peter Magyar, has already announced the results of an alternative survey in which over 1.1 million Hungarians participated. According to him, 58.18% of respondents expressed support for Ukraine’s EU membership.
The European Commission explained that Ukraine’s economic integration involves a gradual entry into the EU single market with the harmonization of national legislation according to European standards.