Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán has declared that Hungary will not support Ukraine’s accession to the European Union, citing an overwhelming mandate from a national vote in which 95 percent of participants opposed Ukrainian membership.
Speaking in Brussels, Orbán revealed that 2,168,431 Hungarian citizens voted against Ukraine joining the EU, out of a total of 2,278,000 valid votes cast. Just 5 percent supported the idea.
“I came here with a strong mandate. My voice has grown deeper — after all, I will speak today in the voice of more than 2 million Hungarians when I say during negotiations that Hungary does not support Ukraine’s EU membership. These are the stark facts,” he said.
🇭🇺🇪🇺🇺🇦 Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán reveals that 95% of the valid votes in Hungary’s public consultation on Ukraine’s EU membership were against it joining.
“I come here with a strong mandate. Hungary does not support Ukraine’s accession. The other 26 can say what they… pic.twitter.com/sVL3afhmvL
— Remix News & Views (@RMXnews) June 26, 2025
Orbán stressed that Hungary cannot be circumvented in this process, noting that EU accession requires unanimous approval from all member states. “Even to open a negotiation cluster, unanimity is required — and that’s not there. So, this won’t happen. Nothing can happen today that would have any legal effect on Ukraine’s accession to the EU,” he said. “People can make statements and talk, but the EU will not have a common position, because Hungary does not support it. Those who disagree with us — 26 or however many there are — can say what they want, that’s also freedom.”
The Hungarian leader also warned that admitting Ukraine into the bloc would mean importing the conflict with Russia into the heart of Europe. “The problem is the war. If we were to integrate Ukraine into the European Union, we would be integrating the war along with it. And we don’t want to be in a community with a country that is at war, which poses an imminent danger to us,” he said. “Because if the EU includes a country at war, then the EU is at war, and we don’t want that.”
Hungary is one of the few EU member states whose government appears to be acting on the popular opinion of its voters when it comes to Ukraine’s EU membership.
A survey published this week from Poland showed just 35 percent of Poles support Ukraine’s accession to the EU, with 42 percent opposing its membership, yet Poland’s liberal government under Donald Tusk continues to adhere to the will of Brussels and Kyiv.
Similarly, polling conducted last year in Germany found 52 percent of citizens were not in favor, with an EU-wide average of 60 percent opposing Kyiv’s accession to the bloc.
Even Slovakia, which is frequently aligned with Hungary on matters related to Ukraine — in particular its opposition to arms sales and its support for immediate peace talks — has green-lighted talks on EU membership.
Speaking earlier this month, Prime Minister Robert Fico told journalists, “The Slovak government wishes Ukraine European development. If Ukraine wants to join the EU, this is its sovereign decision, and we support this decision.”
While he indicated that Kyiv was not yet ready to join, he expressed his support for preliminary accession talks to commence.
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