Hungarian PM says EU decision not to grant Georgia membership candidate status “discriminatory”

Hungarian prime minister Viktor Orbán on Thursday said the European Council’s decision to not include Georgia in its granting of membership candidate status to Moldova and Ukraine in June was “discriminatory”.

At a joint press conference with his Georgian counterpart Irakli Garibashvili, Orbán noted the decision could not be justified “morally” and called it “harmful”.

A very bad decision was announced in Brussels [on June 24], this decision was discriminatory when the [EU membership] candidate status had been granted to Moldova and Ukraine and not to Georgia. It cannot be justified morally and it is a harmful decision”, he said.

Orbán stressed Georgia had deserved the status because it had worked “very hard” in recent years, adding Hungary would continue to support the country.

This decision was disrespectful to Georgia, the Georgian nation, the Georgian state. What will we do? We will continue to support Georgia to get the candidate status and join the European Union as soon as possible, and we will do it with expert help”, he said.

“Sixteen Hungarians are working on Georgian issues within the European Union and we are doing our best to start negotiations in this direction soon”, the head of the Hungarian government continued. 

Orbán also stressed there were “very strong, positive” feelings towards Georgia in Hungary.

Viktor Orbán said the European Council’s decision to not include Georgia in its granting of membership candidate status to Moldova and Ukraine in June was “discriminatory”. Photo: Government Administration

“In Hungary, there are very strong, positive feelings towards Georgia. It can be said that they are biased. This means that we have an excellent starting platform for negotiations”, he pointed out.

Both our countries have a rich history, rich cultural traditions and we have unique languages. We must preserve this culture and this language for the good of our nations and their history”, Orbán concluded in his comments.