HUNGARIAN PRIME MINISTER Viktor Orbán has vowed total opposition to progressing EU membership talks with Ukraine.

Speaking to reporters this morning at the European Council summit in Brussels, Obrán said: “The problem is the war. If a member of the European Union is in a war, it means that the European Union is in the war, and we don’t like it.”

European leaders are meeting in Brussels today to discuss tariffs, the Middle East and the Russian invasion of Ukraine. Orbán, the Kremlin’s closest ally in the EU, is expected to present the results of a government poll on Ukrainian membership.

According to Orbán, 95% of the two million respondents to the government-run opinion poll are opposed to Ukraine’s membership, in a move seeking to add validity to his previous efforts to curb the progression of EU accession talks.

Asked about this issue today, Taoiseach Micheál Martin said Ireland is totally opposed to Hungary’s attempts to suppress accession negotiations. He is to tell European leaders that Ukrainian membership in the EU will bring much-needed stability to the country.

He claimed it is “deeply, deeply regrettable” that Hungary’s Orbán intends to oppose Ukraine’s membership.

“I think the approach he has taken to Ukraine in general, from a European perspective, is to be regretted, and it’s very problematic,” Martin said.

“We will do what we always do, we will seek to persuade and engage across the full range of issues before the EU.”

The Taoiseach added that he believes Ukrainian membership in the EU is “very important”, adding that he has “always been in favour of enlargement because of the beneficial impact it had on Ireland and Ireland’s history”.

Orbán and Martin previously clashed in May after the Taoiseach was critical of the Hungarian Prime Minister on a podcast. Orbán asked the Fianna Fáil leader not to “ruin the love story” between Ireland and Hungary

Orbán has repeatedly rejected progressive legislation and has taken action to disrupt Ukraine’s path to EU membership.

Orbán has rejected funding programmes for Ukraine aimed at helping it in its war against Russia’s invasion. It came after funding for Hungary was withheld by the EU after his party planned to outlaw the mentioning of homosexuality.

European politicians have suggested using Article 7 of the Treaty of the EU, which allows for a member state to be blocked from voting in the EU, to crack down on the vetoes by Orbán.

Speaking to The Journal in Brussels yesterday, justice commissioner Michael McGrath said the EU is launching infringement proceedings against Hungary over proposed anti-LGBTQ+ legislation.

The EU Commission is currently awaiting a formal judgement by the European Court of Justice on the Hungary case. McGrath said that the Court of Justice has sided with the Commission in every instance of alleged EU law infringement in Hungary to date.

“On this new law, which provides for the ban of certain gatherings or the potential to ban certain gatherings, we have written to the Hungarian authorities in relation to the use of facial recognition and data privacy issues that arise,” McGrath said.

“We await the response from them, and we will then evaluate that response and decide what action is open to the commission to take,” he said.