European Commission spokesman Guillaume Mercier has officially confirmed that the results of the “referendum” in Hungary on Ukraine’s EU accession are completely non-binding, making it clear that the “efforts” of Hungarian leader Viktor Orban were in vain.
Points of attention
- Holding candidate countries back unjustly jeopardizes the credibility of the enlargement policy, urging swift progress in opening clusters.
- Spokesperson Guillaume Mercier underscores EU support for Ukraine amid challenging circumstances and emphasizes the importance of timely integration.
Orban's plan for Ukraine failed again
As the EC spokesperson noted, de facto it means that the Hungarian authorities convened and organized a non-binding consultation.
In addition, he added that national consultations are a matter for national authorities.
Guillaume Mercier also stated that official Brussels would simply take into account the results of this "referendum."
"Ukraine is implementing reforms in the most challenging circumstances imaginable. The Commission has concluded that Ukraine has met the criteria for opening the first cluster, namely the fundamental issues cluster," the European Commission spokesman stressed.
Against this background, the European Union has made it clear that it positively assesses Ukraine's plan for the integration of national minorities, which is so "concerned" by the Hungarian authorities.
When a candidate country is held back without objective reasons, despite the fact that it has fulfilled the criteria, the entire enlargement policy loses credibility... Therefore, we really hope that we will be able to open the first cluster very soon, emphasized Guillaume Mercier.
