Orban: Ukraine's EU membership negotiations must not move forward

Hungary's Prime Minister Viktor Orban has said on Friday that he does not support progress in Ukraine's membership negotiations in the European Union.

With these statements, he has indicated that his state could block Kiev's ambitions to join the European bloc.

EU leaders are expected to decide in mid-December whether Ukraine should be officially invited to launch talks to join the bloc with 27 member states, though Hungary has been viewed earlier as an obstacle.

For the admission of a new state into the EU, there must be unanimous among member states.

Hence, Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban has a powerful veto in his hand.

On Wednesday, the European Commission has recommended that Ukraine should be allowed to start negotiations after several issues are addressed.

Orban, however, has said that the country facing war is nowhere close to joining the world's largest trade bloc.

“Ukrainian is not ready to negotiate ambitions to join the EU”, Orban said.

Hungary's “clear position is that negotiations should not start”.

The Orban government has refused to supply Ukraine with weapons as it is protected from the Russian occupation, and has threatened to veto the EU financial package for Kiev.