"The 26, I alone", Orban tells why he did not veto the integration of Ukraine: I was asked, we will have opportunities to block them

"I tried to convince them that help given badly is worse than no help at all."

The Prime Minister of Hungary has shown in an interview for the country's public radio why he did not veto the opening of negotiations with Ukraine in Brussels, since he had long vowed not to allow its integration into the European Union.

Viktor Orban says he tried to convince other EU leaders not to put the issue of Ukraine's accession negotiations on the agenda.

"It was impossible to convince them," he said.

EU leaders had "two serious arguments" that as it shows, he had to take them into account.

"One is that they were 26 and I was alone and they wanted to give Ukraine ... encouragement to continue the war. That's why they asked me not to hinder them," Orban said, adding that their decisive argument was that Hungary would not lose anything. This is because the last word belongs to the parliaments of the member states, including that of Hungary."

"If we don't want Ukraine to become a member of the European Union, then the Hungarian parliament will vote against it," he added.

However, the Hungarian Prime Minister emphasized that there is a long process ahead and that there are about 75 cases when the Hungarian government could stop the process.

"If anything harms Hungary's interests during the talks, I will stop it."

At the moment when it was voted to open the negotiations, Viktor Orban left the hall, but he made it clear that there will be no money from European taxpayers for Ukraine.

 “I had to veto the 50 billion… they had no choice but to keep in mind that Hungary vetoed it, so there is no money,” he said .

He then went on to criticize the European Union, which according to him "is already used to making bad decisions."

He listed the 2008 financial crisis, migration and its "decision on the war in Ukraine to go "toward war and sanctions rather than toward peace." (A2 Televizion)