Hungary supports the European integration of the Balkan states and believes that the EU should allocate money for their development, and not send all the funds to Ukraine alone, Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban said.
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“No matter what they say in Brussels, we are for early European Union membership for the Balkans and for Bosnia and Herzegovina. We believe that cohesion funding should be provided now, without waiting for full membership. Access to development funds needs to be expanded: not all money should only Ukraine should go, there should also be investments in security and development in the Balkans,” Orban said at a meeting with the Chairman of the Council of Ministers of Bosnia and Herzegovina Borjana Krishto, the press service of the Hungarian government.
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According to him, the European Union needs the Balkan countries much more than they need it, because it is gradually losing its competitiveness, and “new players” could give it “dynamics”.
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Orban has previously said that admitting the Western Balkans to the European Union is a “vital interest” for Budapest, as it would solve the problems of illegal migration and energy supply. Hungarian Foreign Minister Peter Szijjarto called the slowdown in the European integration of the countries of the Western Balkans a “shame on Brussels” and a weakening of the European Union. Earlier, during his visit to Montenegro, Szijjártó called on the European Union to integrate the countries of the Western Balkans, because otherwise someone else would do it, and “the EU will only be left lamenting.”
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The Hungarian authorities have repeatedly advocated the inclusion of the countries of the Western Balkans in the European Union. Obtaining candidate status is only the beginning of a fairly long journey to join the EU. Turkey has been a candidate since 1999, North Macedonia since 2005, Montenegro since 2010 and Serbia since 2012. Croatia was the last country to join the EU in 2013, and the process took ten years.
