European Commission spokeswoman Arianna Podesta has confirmed that during talks in Washington on 18 August between the US president and European leaders and Ukraine’s president there was talk of the Hungarian prime minister blocking Ukraine’s progress towards EU membership, according to Radio Liberty’s correspondent in Brussels.
“European leaders did discuss the possibility of (EU) enlargement with President Trump and President Zelensky the other day on Monday in Washington. The European leaders of course emphasised the relevance of the accession process (to the EU) for Ukraine. It is also important in the context of security guarantees,” the European Commission spokeswoman said in response to a question about whether the Ukrainian president had indeed asked Trump to call Orban and what is the EU’s position on this.
Earlier today, a number of media outlets, citing a conversation with President Volodymyr Zelensky, reported that he confirmed a request for Trump to persuade Hungary’s leadership not to block Ukraine’s accession to the EU.
Bloomberg and Reuters reported that Trump called Orban after White House talks on 18 August, specifically to ask him why he was blocking Ukraine’s European Union accession talks, according to Bloomberg and Reuters.
Ukraine’s progress towards the EU, in particular the opening of the first “basics” negotiating cluster, is being blocked by Hungary. Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán, who had previously complained about Ukraine for what he saw as insufficient protection of national minorities, particularly the Hungarian minority, later began to explain this by the fact that the country was at war.