Hryhoriy Mesezhnikov: Ukraine’s accession to the EU is an important vector for the European Union

Lately, we have seen sabotage among the participating countries as Russia’s influence, which manipulates nationalist parties, is growing in some of them. Is the EU capable of solving this problem? A Newssky correspondent asked Hryhori Mesezhnikov, president of the Institute of Public Affairs in Slovakia.

Most of the European elite is in favor of opening these negotiations. The European Commission agreed. Ukraine, in fact, already has candidate status for the second year. Therefore, I believe that there is no need to fight with someone who opposes Ukraine’s membership in the European Union. There is one exception. Thus, the leader of one of the states is now trying to remove Ukraine from the agenda of the expected meeting of the European Council. This is Viktor Orbán.

As far as I know, none of the representatives of individual member states of the European Union are demanding anything of the kind. Although I think that there will be such politicians in the EU countries who are not too sympathetic to the movement of Ukraine in the European direction, nowadays, among those public figures who influence decisions, except for Viktor Orbán, it is unlikely that anyone will try to block Ukraine’s path to the European Union by banning the opening of these negotiations.

In what way will the European Union now put pressure on Viktor Orbán?

He wrote a letter, however, in this letter, he did not directly state that Hungary would block but tried to change the agenda, that Ukraine is not ready yet, etc.

It is known that this issue requires a unanimous vote. The European Commission recommends starting negotiations. All national governments must agree to this, and, in my opinion, the pressure that the European Union will now exert on Viktor Orbán will have a special effect because this is a strategic task for the European Union. This issue is strategic.

Ukraine is currently under Russian aggression. Ukraine is fighting not only for its independence and freedom, but it is also fighting for independence, freedom, and democracy in all of Europe. Therefore, the task of all EU member states, first of all the neighboring ones, including Slovakia, is to support Ukraine unanimously, not to appease Russia, which is sleeping and seeing, but to block Ukraine’s path to the European Union.

If Ukraine succeeds in its path to the European Union, it will, of course, be a great defeat for Moscow.

Do you think that Orbán is blocking any attempts by Ukraine to join the European Union because of common interests with Russia, whether it is cheap minerals or because Hungary has other ambitions?

Hungary often uses as an excuse the situation with ethnic minorities in Ukraine, particularly the Hungarian national minority. This is an old song by Viktor Orbán. If there is a problem, there are mechanisms to solve it. But Viktor Orbán simply uses such an opportunity.

Viktor Orbán has some strange ties to Russia. He is closer to the type of regime that exists in Russia, he has a personal relationship with Vladimir Putin. I think Orbán is trying to portray the situation in a way that Ukraine is supposedly not dealing with the issues of national minorities and the civil rights of ethnic Hungarians in Ukraine for a different reason.

In such a hidden form, apparently, Viktor Orbán shows revisionist tendencies, and therefore he does not particularly criticize Russia for its policy towards Ukraine and always finds some reason to criticize Ukraine.

In recent days, he distinguished himself by declaring that Ukraine is allegedly one of the most corrupt countries. He does not hide his sympathy for authoritarianism or his soft attitude towards Russia, such of a revisionist, occupation policy. And general antipathy towards Ukraine as a neighboring state. This is not a far-sighted position because Ukraine, choosing its freedom, at the same time protects Hungary, which borders Ukraine.

In Hungary itself, many politicians are aware of this and support Ukraine. But since Viktor Orbán is the strongest politician in Hungary and now the head of the government, power is in his hands. He uses a method that corresponds to his attitude toward the Russian-Ukrainian war, Russia, and Vladimir Putin.

In your opinion, why does Orbán use such manipulation? After all, there are quite intelligent people in the European Union who understand well why he is trying to be such a restraining factor in deciding regarding Ukraine’s accession to the European Union.

There is another aspect that should also be mentioned. The fact is that in Hungary, in addition to the fact that its policy towards Ukraine diverges from the policy of the European Union, there are other problems in relations with the EU. First and foremost, the main trends in the internal political development of Hungary. For several years now, Hungary has been the object of criticism from certain EU states and certain EU structures because of the policies that Viktor Orbán pursues within the country.

That is, it is a limitation of the independence of the mass media, an unfriendly attitude towards the players of civil society, the concentration of power, etc.

So it is against this background that the issue with Hungary’s attitude towards Ukraine is somehow quite distinct. In my opinion, certain compromises in quotation marks are likely here.

If you stop criticizing us, let’s say, for our domestic policy, we will soften our position on Ukraine. Everything is mixed here: the general development trend of Hungary itself and sympathy for Russia as a state. Viktor Orbán often spoke of his sympathy for Putin. The same trends, plus a hidden one, can be found in historical revisionism.

And Viktor Orbán’s attitude towards Ukraine as a state.

He is not confused by the position of the European Union because he manipulates it, or does he use it for his profit?

But the fact is that Orbán is generally quite an experienced practitioner, after all, he has had problems in relations with the European Union for about 10 or 12 years. He does not hide it; he directly criticizes the European Union and individual politicians.

He accuses the European Union of approaching some difficulties common to European countries, accuses the European Union of implementing incorrect policies, and criticizes the policies of other European Union states.

Not only that, but he has the experienced of such a struggle, a positional struggle, sometimes even a certain blackmail, primarily in the case of the latest packages of sanctions against Russia. Viktor Orbán managed to negotiate some exceptions for himself.

That is, these were exceptions supposedly for Hungary but in fact for individuals close to the Russian authorities. That is, he already has his hands full in this context, he is not a novice and has experience.

All the problems that exist must be solved within the existing mechanisms, internal mechanisms, and evaluation mechanisms, particularly the Venice Commission. And all this was resolved between the states, particularly those that recently joined the European Union.

Therefore, I am convinced that there is no other scenario for Ukraine than close cooperation with states that support its European integration.

The Hungarian leadership should be constantly reminded that Ukraine is a state that, in principle, now adheres to the same principles on which the European Union is built: freedom, democracy, solidarity, joint support, and the creation of security mechanisms. All this is important not only for Ukraine but also for Hungary. Therefore, the Ukrainian leadership should constantly emphasize that, in principle, it is doing so. I think that the Ukrainian authorities do not make any mistakes related to the process of connection and integration.

There is homework, namely, reforms, the fight against corruption, etc. The Ukrainian authorities know what to do.

We understand that Hungary’s position is a soap bubble against the background of the European opera. Let’s see what all this will cause and whether the influence of Hungary can create any temporary obstacles.

In European countries, unfortunately, there are such groups of political figures. While political parties, some lobbying structures that are under Russian influence, that can somehow harm Ukraine, are becoming more active.

Here, for example, is the blocking of traffic on the border between Ukraine and Poland and Ukraine and Slovakia. In principle, it seems to be the result of lobbying groups of transporters or groups within the agricultural lobby.

And players with Russian influence may be involved in this case. Yes, such a probability exists not only in Central European countries but also in Western European countries.

So now the situation related to the connection to European integration is different from the situation that existed at the end of the 1990s and the beginning of the 2000s. Then, in principle, our state had to carry out reforms and a process of negotiations.

The conditions existed in terms of the influence of external players. At that time, Russia was a weak state; it also disagreed that Slovakia went to the West; on the other hand, Russia then did not have the strength to prevent it. As you know, Russia has become an aggressive imperialist-chauvinist state. It expresses his disagreement in the form of armed aggression. Of course, Ukraine is in a more difficult situation than we were at the time.

Ukraine’s accession to the EU is an important vector for the European Union, for the poor countries of the European Union, and for Ukraine itself.

Maryna Kovalchuk, Newssky’s correspondent (Slovakia, Czech Republic, Hungary, Poland), head of the V5 Media project, and deputy editor-in-chief, spoke.

Українською