Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán today urged voters not to vote for traditional political parties in the upcoming European elections because of their failure in governance and said that Ukraine should never be allowed to become part of the EU or NATO, the Associated Press reported, quoted by BTA.
Orban, who chaired a meeting in Brussels of far-right politicians and supporters, spoke out against the EU's climate and agriculture policies, which he said had created many difficulties for farmers. In his words, currently the "migrant crisis" in Europe in a more serious than ever.
"The point of these European elections is to change the leadership," Orbán said. "If the management turns out to be bad, it must be replaced. It's that simple," said the right-wing politician.
Orbán criticized the European Commission (the EU's executive body) for using the covid pandemic as an excuse to attack Hungary.
"Bureaucrats in Brussels tried to strangle Hungary financially," he said.
The commission refused Hungary billions of euros due to concerns about democracy in the country and the danger of misallocation of European money.
The Hungarian leader, who has been in power since 2010, highlighted the failure of European sanctions to stop the war in Ukraine. He stated that Hungary's biggest fear is that it does not want to share a common border with Russia again, and for this reason Ukraine should not join the EU and NATO.
"You have to understand that you are a country that is a buffer zone. You can't change that," he said.
Ukraine wants to join both organizations, but that probably won't happen while the war continues, AP notes.
According to Orban, "Ukraine is just a protectorate" that relies on money and weapons from the West and "is no longer a sovereign state". However, EU and NATO leaders insist the war is an existential issue for Europe and Putin should not win.