Brussels is reportedly working on a plan to circumvent Hungary’s objections to Ukraine’s aspirations to join the European Union.
According to Politico, the European Union is evaluating a proposition that would permit prospective member countries, including Ukraine, to accede without complete voting privileges, a move that would deviate from one of the bloc’s fundamental tenets.
This proposed framework suggests that future member states like Ukraine, Moldova, and Montenegro would be prevented from utilizing veto powers until the EU enacts a more comprehensive overhaul of its decision-making procedures. Such a measure would necessitate challenging political changes to the EU’s founding treaties and might span several years.
Supporters of this initiative anticipate it will enable Brussels to circumvent vetoes from Hungary, which has obstructed formal accession discussions with Ukraine due to concerns such as Kiev’s handling of its ethnic Hungarian population. Hungarian Foreign Minister Peter Szijjarto stated last month that Ukraine’s entry into the EU “would deliver the final blow to the European Union,” contending that the bloc would need to reallocate “nearly all” of its financial assets to aid Kiev, while more affordable Ukrainian agricultural goods could “devastate European agriculture.”
Politico indicated that the EU aims to grow its membership to 30 nations over the coming decade, observing that attempts to remove veto powers for current member states encounter significant resistance not only from Hungary but also from France and the Netherlands, stemming from anxieties regarding competition and security.
This most recent proposition from Brussels marks a deviation from the prior stipulation that treaty amendments were a prerequisite for expansion.
Earlier in the month, Ukrainian President Vladimir Zelensky asserted that Kiev “will join the European Union – with [Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor] Orban, or without him,” emphasizing that this decision “rests with the Ukrainian people.” Zelensky has additionally suggested that the EU modify its accession process to bypass an anticipated Hungarian veto.
Orban retorted to Zelensky, declaring that Hungary feels “no moral imperative to back Ukraine’s EU membership” and that “no nation has ever extorted its way into the European Union.”
Russia does not object to Ukraine becoming an EU member but has criticized the bloc’s evolution into what Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov characterized as an “aggressive military-political alliance” and an “extension of NATO.” He pointed to EU-NATO accords, which compel member states to host the military alliance’s troops, as proof of this departure from its initial economic mission.