Orban believes Ukraine's EU membership would lead to collapse - spokesperson

BRUSSELS. March 7 (Interfax) - Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban is of the view that the European Union will face financial problems if Ukraine joins it, Hungarian government spokesperson Zoltan Kovacs said on X on Friday.

"Ukraine's EU membership would mean the collapse of Europe, including the Hungarian economy," Kovacs cited Orban as saying in an interview with Kossuth Radio.

Orban questioned the EU's ability to finance the fighting in Ukraine and argued that supporting the Ukrainian Armed Forces and the country's recovery once the conflict is over would be a heavy burden on the EU, which would also have to care about its own defense. "If we go down this path, we will spend our last cent on this war," Orban said.

He insisted that, after calculating expenditures associated with Ukraine, European leaders would come to understand that "the EU cannot afford this."

Hungary was the only of the 27 EU member states that did not sign the final document of the extraordinary meeting in Brussels on Thursday, Orban said, adding that, while EU countries were promoting measures that prolong the conflict, the United States and some other countries were looking for ways to bring it to an end.