Hungarian PM believes Western Balkans should complete EU accession process sooner than Ukraine

Hungary's Prime Minister Viktor Orbán has doubled down on his stance that the EU should focus on completing the accession of the Western Balkans and that "Eastern enlargement" should be addressed afterwards.

Source: European Pravda; Hungarian news outlet Telex, citing public comments made by Orbán at a meeting with Milorad Dodik, President of Republika Srpska

Details: Orbán said that "Europe needs the Serbs" and that without them, "there will be no European security, no united EU, and no stability".

The Hungarian leader noted that the EU has "a lot of problems, but still, there is no better framework at the moment" and expressed regret that the Western Balkan countries are still not in the EU, although he believes the decision should have been made long ago.

Viktor Orbán said that Hungary's stance is that the Balkan enlargement of the EU should be completed first and that all resources should be focused on this in the near future. Only after this is achieved does he suggest addressing the "much more challenging" Eastern enlargement, i.e. the accession of Ukraine, Moldova and Georgia.

Orbán noted that he "has a special team that will deal with the issues of just the Western Balkans" during Hungary's presidency of the Council of the EU in July-December 2024.

The Hungarian leader added that the Balkans have suffered unfairly amid Russia's war against Ukraine, as otherwise, part of the funding the EU has provided to Ukraine could have gone towards projects for Bosnia and Herzegovina.

Background:

• Bosnian Serb leader Milorad Dodik honoured Orbán with an order that he had previously awarded to Russian leader Vladimir Putin.

• During his visit to Sàrajevo, Orbán vowed to make every effort to bring Bosnia and Herzegovina's EU accession closer during Hungary’s presidency of the EU Council.

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