Orban told Kossuth Radio station, “It was a long and complex debate; I spent eight hours trying to convince them not to do this,” and explained that Kiev is not ready for such membership.

The Hungarian prime minister said that the EU leaders’ argument during the debate was that negotiations would be a long, drawn-out process, and there was no talk about Ukraine’s joining the community shortly.

Orban left the meeting room to not participate in the decision.

A two-day EU Summit began in Brussels on December 14, at which the issue of starting the accession negotiations with Ukraine was discussed in particular.

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