Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán has stated that he does not rule out the possibility of war in Europe as early as 2026, and has once again spoken out against Ukraine’s membership in the European Union.
He said this in an interview with the Hungarian publication Magyar Nemzet.
When asked whether 2025 could be the last year of peace in Europe, Orbán said that such a scenario could not be ruled out. According to him, after the end of World War II, Europe was held back for decades by the fear of nuclear conflict, but now the world is entering a new phase of global change.
Orbán argues that the redistribution of financial, military and political power in the world poses risks of new wars, and he links the rise of tensions in Europe to the decline of Western Europe and the European Union. At the same time, the Hungarian prime minister said that at the last summit in Brussels, he allegedly managed to slow down the «acceleration to war», referring to the blocking of decisions on financial support for Ukraine.
According to Orbán, there are currently two camps in Europe — “war advocates” and “peace advocates” and, in his opinion, the former currently dominate. He emphasized that Brussels, they say, is moving in the direction of war, while Hungary is in favor of peace.
Separately, Orban sharply spoke out against Ukraine’s European integration. He stated that Ukraine’s membership in the EU is not realistic and has no connection with the end of the war. In his opinion, the accession of Ukraine will not strengthen the European Union, but will only weaken it by absorbing resources and energy.
The Hungarian prime minister also denied the thesis that a strong Ukraine increases Europe’s security, saying that supporting Kyiv, on the contrary, exhausts the EU.
