EU-Hungary clash over enlargement. Parliament: “Go ahead with Ukraine.” Budapest says “no”

Brussels – Forward with enlargement, whenever possible, as much as possible. The European Parliament revisits this historic moment and urges the European Union to incorporate those countries at the centre of new geopolitical interests. The chamber, meeting in Strasbourg, approved, by 385 votes to 147, with 98 abstentions, a resolution stressing that the cost of not enlarging would be greater than that of admitting new countries to the EU, and warning of the risk of creating “vulnerable geopolitical grey areas” open to hostile foreign influences. 

The approved text is non-legislative in nature and therefore cannot influence or bind in any way. However, it serves to send a clear political and strategic message: an even more enlarged Europe, above all as a safeguard against Russia. With regard to Russia, MEPs call for “the rapid opening of negotiation chapters with Ukraine and Moldova” and “the abolition of unanimity” in the intermediate stages of the enlargement process, with regard to the opening and closing of individual negotiation chapters.

BREAKING: Hungary’s National Assembly has adopted a resolution rejecting Ukraine’s EU membership, further war financing, and efforts to turn the European Union into a military alliance. The measure passed with 142 votes in favor, 28 against, and 4 abstentions.

️ The… pic.twitter.com/b3yyR2h7XQ

— Zoltan Kovacs (@zoltanspox) March 10, 2026

These requests come on the day when Viktor Orban’s Hungary once again closes its doors to Kyiv and Ukraine’s dreams of European integration. The Hungarian National Assembly, the country’s unicameral parliament, has adopted a resolution rejecting Ukraine’s accession to the EU, “further financing of the war and attempts to transform the European Union into a military alliance,” announced government spokesman Zoltan Kovacs. The proposal was supported by a large majority (142 votes in favour, 28 against, and 4 abstentions), reigniting internal EU conflict and divisions over the issue of Ukraine. 

Not only that. With Hungary heading for elections and risk of leaving the scene of one of the longest-serving European leaders in the EU for an uninterrupted period of time at the helm of a government, “if necessary, Slovakia is ready to take over from Hungary” in the event of Orban’s electoral defeat, said Slovak Prime Minister Robert Fico. This is how Eastern Europe, backing each other up, is engulfing the EU and all its ambitions, including that of a Ukraine under the twelve-star flag.