Orban said that the distance between Ukraine and the European Union is the same as between Mako and Jerusalem.
In doing so, the Hungarian leader, quoted in the local radio station Radio Kossuth, resorted to an old national proverb referring to a small town from where, according to legend, a certain knight set out for the Holy Land in the Middle Ages.
In other words, it will take many, many years to overcome this distance, Orban explained to foreign journalists.
He admitted that he does not understand why negotiations with Ukraine on its accession to the EU should be started now, when Ukraine is not at all ready for it.
This seems unrealistic, the prime minister said, adding that it would be much better to establish some kind of strategic partnership between the EU and Ukraine first.
On the other hand, Orban maintained that Hungary opposes Ukraine’s intention to join the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO), because this could bring the alliance countries into a military conflict.
Ukraine’s membership in NATO means that we would be forced to send troops there the next morning and we don’t want that, he stressed. Finally, the Magyar leader stressed that the European Union should push for the start of peaceful negotiations to resolve the conflict in Ukraine and participate directly in them.
If Europe does not start negotiations on Ukraine, then the great powers outside Europe, Russia and the United States, will agree on the head of Europe and that danger has existed since the Second World War, the head of the Hungarian government emphasized.
He declared that now nobody will say what could be a peace agreement in Ukraine, but this does not mean that a cease-fire and the beginning of negotiations should not be sought.
Earlier, Orban repeatedly stated that negotiations on a settlement in Ukraine should begin as soon as possible, because every day of armed conflict claims lives.
He also noted that the United States, which is Kiev’s largest military and financial backer, should participate in such negotiations, along with Ukraine and the Russian Federation.
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