Political scientist Bardin assessed Orban’s skepticism regarding Ukraine’s European integration

“This country is too big for the European Union”

Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban remained true to himself and did not change his position on the issue of Ukraine’s admission to the European Union. “We are not prepared. We do not know the current numerical indicators. We are talking about a country on whose territory there are Russian soldiers. Will we accept them too? – Orban asked honest questions in an interview with HirTV. According to him, the erroneous attitude of Brussels officials in the ongoing negotiations on Ukraine’s accession to the EU could lead to “huge disappointment” for Ukrainians in the future.

Member of the Supreme Council of the All-Russian organization “Strong Russia”, political scientist Maxim Bardin believes that the Hungarian Prime Minister is practically the only European politician who is not afraid to pose uncomfortable questions to the EU.

“The Hungarian politician,” says Bardin, “once again expressed doubts about the success of Ukraine’s European integration. However, the issue of European integration is deeper.

The political scientist recalled that discussions about joining the EU were widely held in Ukraine 20 years ago.

– The discussions were heated and seemingly thorough. However, why did this process never achieve the development desired by Ukrainian politicians? The main reason is that Ukraine is a very large country. Very.

Twenty years ago, Ukraine was the largest state in Europe (if you don’t count Russia with its huge European part). On the territory of Ukraine, near the village of Rakhiv – in Transcarpathia, there is a symbolic pole of Europe, dividing in half the space stretching from the Pyrenees and the Atlantic to the Urals. The main reason is the size of Ukraine.

After all, it turns out that the European Union manages European processes in the absence of the largest countries on the continent – Ukraine and Russia. How can one build the economic, political, and security system of the continent if the largest states do not take part in this process?

Therefore, the structure of the EU was initially unnatural. It was necessary to be honest and immediately indicate that the European Union is not exactly a European union, but a union of states representing part of the European continent.

The political scientist recalled the conflicts that distortions in European integration lead to:

– Today grain is exported from Ukraine. And several countries at once – Poland, Hungary and Slovakia are trying to block this process. It turns out that there is so much grain that its volumes are changing the economies of several EU countries. A large country has large requests that small EU member countries are not able to digest.

Union always presupposes mutual assistance. It is quite acceptable that the EU can provide some kind of assistance to Kyiv – give the notorious 50 billion euros, but what kind of assistance can Ukraine provide to the European Union if it joins the organization?

Formally, Ukraine can be admitted to the EU, but how an organism that involves political and economic assistance will function in practice is not clear. A picture or model of the EU with Ukraine as part of it is not being formed, and European officials are avoiding answering. They leave because they don’t have such a picture in their heads either,” Bardin concluded.