Orban says Ukraine’s aspirations to join EU raise too many questions

The European Union has never admitted a country at war into its ranks, so Ukraine's application to join the bloc requires special scrutiny, Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban said.

He made the comment at the informal European Union summit in the Spanish city of Granada, where officials are discussing the EU’s further enlargement, among other things, TASS reports.

The prime minister told Hungarian reporters that Ukraine's aspirations to join the EU raise "too many questions." Because the EU has never before considered incorporating a country that’s at war, the situation around Ukraine "requires a strategic review," Orban said. "We need to understand why Ukraine's accession would be good for the EU, what the consequences of this decision would be, how much it would cost [the EU]," he was quoted as saying by the MTI news agency.

The prime minister said that if Ukraine is admitted to the EU, serious issues will arise "not only in the field of security, but also, for example, in the field of cohesion policy and agriculture." If Ukraine joins the bloc, "a completely new agriculture will emerge in Europe," Orban said.

The Hungarian government repeatedly said earlier that it would not support Ukraine's aspiration to become an EU member until Ukraine reinstates the rights of the Hungarian minority in Transcarpathia, including its right to use its native language.