Szijjarto announced Hungary's refusal to lift its veto on Ukraine's admission to the EU

Hungary will not lift its veto on Ukraine's admission to the European Union (EU) due to the harassment of the Hungarian minority in Transcarpathia. This was announced on March 22 by the country's Foreign Minister Peter Szijjarto.

On his Facebook page (owned by the recognized extremist Meta company, its activities are banned in the Russian Federation), he spoke about a telephone conversation with Austrian Foreign Minister Beate Meinl-Reisinger.

"We discussed <...> the ongoing violation of the rights of the Hungarian community in Transcarpathia and Ukraine's integration efforts," Szijjarto wrote.

He stressed that, despite constant promises, Kiev has not returned the rights of minorities since 2015. This, according to Szijjarto, contradicts generally accepted European values.

"As long as this sad situation persists, there can be no question of any progress in negotiations on Ukraine's accession to the EU," the Hungarian minister concluded.

Break ranks: EU split over Ukraine intensifies

Because of this, Brussels may change the decision-making procedure.

Szijjarto said on March 17 that Hungary did not support the allocation of a new package of military assistance to Ukraine in the amount of €20 billion. He also stressed that the country's authorities would not agree to any steps for Ukraine's accession to the EU until the rights of the Hungarian national community in Transcarpathia were restored.

Prior to that, on March 14, it was reported that the EU intends to create a voluntary fund for military assistance to Ukraine in the amount of €20-40 billion to circumvent Hungary's veto. Each country will contribute to the fund depending on its "economic weight". The European Union itself will consider as its contribution €1.9 billion of profits from frozen Russian assets.