Orban: EU to be held accountable for supporting war in Ukraine

Zsolt Nemeth, Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban (centre) and Laszlo Tokes attend the 33th Balvanyos Summer University and Students' Camp in Baile Tusnad, Transylvania, Romania, Saturday, July 27, 2024.
Photo: MTI

If Europe does not pursue a policy of peace and Donald Trump becomes US president, then the EU will have to "admit its defeat" and bear the responsibility for supporting the war in Ukraine, Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban said in a speech in Romania.

"The European Union will have to pay the price of this military gamble and we will suffer from it as well," he was quoted as saying by the Agerpres news agency.

The prime minister was speaking at the closing ceremony of a traditional summer university organized in Romania by Hungarian NGOs and organizations of the Hungarian minority in Romania. According to the organizers, more than 7,000 people gathered to listen to Orban's speech.

Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban said on Saturday Russia's leadership was "hyper rational" and that Ukraine would never be able to fulfil its hopes of becoming a member of the European Union or NATO, Reuters informs.

"In the next long decades, maybe centuries, Asia will be the dominant centre of the world," Orban said, mentioning China, India, Pakistan and Indonesia as the world's future big powers.

"And we Westerners pushed the Russians into this bloc as well," he said in the televised speech before ethnic Hungarians at a festival in the town of Baile Tusnad in neighbouring Romania.

Orban, whose country currently holds the rotating EU presidency, has sharply differed from the rest of the bloc by seeking warmer ties with Beijing and Moscow, and he angered some EU leaders when he went on surprise visits to Kyiv, Moscow and Beijing this month for talks on the war in Ukraine.

He said that in contrast to the "weakness" of the West, Russia's position in world affairs was rational and predictable, saying the country had shown economic flexibility in adapting to Western sanctions since 2014.

He added that Ukraine would never become a member of the EU or NATO because "we Europeans do not have enough money for that".

"The EU needs to give up its identity as a political project and become an economic and defence project," Orban added.

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