Hungary's Prime Minister Viktor Orban, left, speaks with European Council President Antonio Costa during a round table meeting at an EU Summit in Brussels, Thursday, March 6, 2025. (AP Photo/Geert Vanden Wijngaert)

BUDAPEST, Hungary (AP) — Hungary will poll its citizens on Ukraine's potential future membership in the European Union, Prime Minister Viktor Orbán said on Friday, a day after he refused to endorse an EU statement on support for Kyiv that was backed by the bloc's 26 other leaders.

In statements to state radio, Orbán said EU plans to fill the gap left by apparent cuts to American support for Kyiv by the administration of President Donald Trump would damage the bloc's economy. He reiterated his position that EU membership for Ukraine would come down to whether Hungary approves it or not.

EU membership for Ukraine would mean that “Europe will be destroyed, including the Hungarian economy," he said. "This process must be stopped in time."

As a way of shoring up support for Orbán's stance, the government will issue a “national consultation, ” a form of political campaign conducted periodically by Orbán's right-wing populist government in the form of an informal questionnaire sent to every adult in the country.

Such surveys have been widely criticized by pollsters and opposition parties as propaganda tools that are manipulative in their phrasing and highly suggestive of desired answers.

"Everyone will give their opinion" on Ukraine's potential EU membership, Orbán said. “The question is simple: yes or no.”

The results of the survey will not be legally binding. He did not say when the survey would be conducted.

Orbán’s government has said the surveys strengthen its bargaining position on the European level by demonstrating a national consensus on political issues.

Orbán, a staunch supporter of Trump and considered to be Russian President Vladimir Putin’s closest EU partner, refused Thursday to endorse part of a statement supporting Ukraine at an emergency summit convened in Brussels.

At the summit, EU leaders committed to working together to bolster the continent’s defenses and to free up hundreds of billions of euros for security after Trump’s repeated warnings that he would cut them adrift to face the threat of Russia alone.

All 26 other EU leaders approved the bloc’s stance that there can be no negotiations on Ukraine without Ukraine, and that the Europeans must be involved in any talks involving their security.

Orbán has repeatedly warned that his country could exercise a veto on allowing Ukraine into the EU, a decision which would require unanimity among all the bloc's leaders.

Kyiv considers EU membership a crucial part of safeguarding Ukraine's future security against potential renewed Russian attacks after an eventual end to the current war.

News from © The Associated Press, 2025