BELGRADE, Serbia

Hungary will not support any European Union proposal to start negotiations on making Ukraine a member of the bloc, a minister said Thursday.

''We are dealing with a completely premature proposal...Hungary cannot contribute to a common decision on inviting Ukraine to begin the process of joining the bloc,'' Gergely Gulyas, the chief of staff to Prime Minister Viktor Orban, said at a press conference.

Gulyas said it was too early to begin formal talks with Kyiv on the war-torn country joining the EU and Budapest would not support opening the discussions when EU leaders meet in December at a summit in Brussels.

He added that Hungary will also not support proposed changes to the EU budget, which include €50 billion ($54.5 billion) of long-term aid to Kyiv.

Ukraine officially applied for EU membership on Feb. 28, 2022, four days after it was invaded by Russia in what Moscow calls a "special military operation."


The European Commission issued its opinion on the application of Ukraine's EU membership on June 17 last year, after which the European Council granted Kyiv candidate status.

Last December, Ukraine's parliament adopted several bills recommended by the European Commission to further the country's EU accession process.