LJUBLJANA — German Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock on Tuesday urged Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán to drop his vetoes on launching EU enlargement talks with Ukraine and approving fresh cash for Kyiv.
Baerbock also lashed out at Serbian President Aleksandar Vučić for cozying up to Russia and putting his political opposition at a disadvantage ahead of upcoming elections.
Baerbock reacted critically to the latest threat issued by Orbán on Monday. The Hungarian leader wrote to European Council President Charles Michel to urge him to remove talks on opening accession negotiations with Ukraine from the agenda of next week’s EU leaders’ summit.
“We have no time for games at this moment,” Baerbock said in Ljubljana. “If we are in a situation where peace in Europe is under attack, then we must do everything we can every day and every hour to protect our people, and even more so the people of Ukraine, in the best possible way.”
The EU had planned to approve the launch of enlargement talks and the disbursement of €50 billion in financial support for Ukraine during its December 14-15 summit. But those steps require unanimity among all 27 EU leaders, allowing Orbán to threaten a veto.
Diplomats disagree on whether the Hungarian leader is determined to derail support for Ukraine or whether he’s trying to blackmail Brussels, with the aim of unblocking more than €13 billion in EU funds for Hungary which have been held back over rule-of-law concerns.
Baerbock, however, vowed that the EU would “do everything we can to ensure that Ukraine takes the next step in the accession negotiations.”
Slovenian Foreign Minister Tanja Fajon also criticized Orbán during the press conference: “I do not accept blackmail,” she said, adding that countries which made reform efforts to become an EU member “must not become victims of national politics.”
Turning to Serbia, Baerbock criticized Vučić for walking a fine line between aligning with the EU and Russia at the same time, while also stoking tensions with Kosovo.
“When we talk about enlargement, it’s crucial that you cannot sit on two chairs at the same time,” the German foreign minister said.
On Serbia’s upcoming parliamentary elections on December 17, she urged Belgrade to guarantee equal media access for all political candidates and ban the misuse of government resources in the election campaign.
