Growing concern over Ukraine aid as Orban takes over EU presidency • FRANCE 24 English

Growing concern over Ukraine aid as Orban takes over EU presidency • FRANCE 24 English

we can speak to Nicholas tenzer visiting professor at sanspo University in Paris hello to you Nicholas thank you for speaking to Paris direct um on Monday hungary’s leader Victor Orban takes over the rotating presidency of the European Council some have called Orban Pro Russian others say that’s missing some Nuance how would you characterize his position on this war between Ukraine and Russia well I think that’s basically you know auan is certainly a Pro Putin guy but of course he also knows that he needs the EU uh which is also important in his story that before the rotating presidency of Hungary uh the other y leaders have secured uh at least uh negotiation accession talks with Ukraine and mova and I think that from this point of view that’s reassuring because we cannot expect certainly the Hungarian presidency to take new initiatives uh regarding the support to Ukraine and the of Rons and I think that even during this presidency all the other you member states will do their best to just prevent Hungary to block any kind of new initiative so so with Hungary taking over that presidency you think we’re in for a prolonged period of inaction well uh well everything will depends of course of the I mean the result also of the election in France uh I mean that’s a true concern because if we have the major power in the EU right now France who was very active in supporting Ukraine you remember the stance of President macron saying that he wants to send military instructors to Ukraine that he want provide Ukraine with 2,000 new fighter jets uh well everything could be you know certainly geiz uh but if the elections of France have I would say good result it means without a full victory of national rally Marine leen’s party then maybe I think it will be very difficult for Hungary alone plus let’s say sovia or Austria to block I me the support uh so well we will see after Monday or after mostly after the July the 7th I mean the second round of the election in France what could happen yeah and even then let’s not forget we have a US presidential election in November what happens if Donald Trump’s in the White House yes I mean that’s a that’s a true concern because if we have no more support of France if we have no more support from the US then certainly Ukraine will be in a very difficult position because I cannot imagine that with only let’s say the UK um Poland plus the Baltic states and some of the states it will be certainly enough certainly to support Ukraine until Victory uh and right now also we have this concern I was in cave at the beginning of this month uh everyone say well that was very good to unblock I mean the deadlock in the US Congress we welcome all the support for the other member states we welcome all the security agreements with that we have well know and just after that was signed a new security agreement between Ukraine and the EU uh but it will be certainly not enough to reconquer uh the territories still occupied by Russia and I think we need to do much more and if we have I mean Trump in the white house plus the national rally having a majority in the house in France certainly it will be very difficult to move forwards and basically to to to not only to protect Ukraine but to to to make Ukraine uh win this war fully yeah Ukraine’s President Vladimir zinsky said he’s drawing up what he calls a comprehensive plan for how he believes the war with Russia should end of course that would likely include a Ukraine’s territorial Integrity the only thing is we know Putin doesn’t want to negotiate so what is the significance of zelinsky’s plan what is the point of it who is he really trying to address and and what’s his message in it I think the first message is first of all that of course Ukraine wants peace and basically if we consider the the the rank of the Ukrainian people we have already certainly more than 100,000 people died you know um died you know in Ukraine because of Russia we want peace we are not an obstacle to peace certainly Russia is because Russia has has declared this war and basically Vladimir Putin’s doesn’t want to to end this war it will continue whatever it takes even if you have one million servicemen you know from Russia dying you know in this war certainly Putin will continue and we also know that you know in the 10 points peace plan of zalinsky and I think that the new peace conference will certainly you know endorse this plan uh there must be a full territorial Integrity of Ukraine guaranteed by all the Alli and not only I mean NATO but also some Southern country that what we expect let’s be very clear first of all if we give up on some territories that will be a full surrender that will be certainly of breach of international law and it will mean that the West will have lost I mean any kind of legitimacy to say that it is abiding by international law and the second thing is that we perfectly know that as long as we have Ukrainian territories occupied by the Russians it means more torture summary execution deportation of children which is a crime of genocide under the conventions of December 9th 1948 so we cannot accept to give Mr Putin a license to Kill and that’s why we have basically not to surrender we have to continue yeah in about two weeks time the US is hosting the NATO Summit the security Alliance will be marking 75 years uh since its creation there um do you expect Vladimir Putin to send a message to uh sort of um hangover that anniversary oh well certainly I think that Putin you know will continue with I mean his threats I mean and all the narratives that the war of NATO again Russia and this kind of thing but first of all we have not to buy into this kind of narrative but having said that I am rather pessimistic because we still know that the US and Germany oppose a full membership of Ukraine to Nato right now in vus Summit last we and I was there on July 11th and 12th uh basically it was a kind of remake of the Bucharest Summit of 2008 there was no clear signal for Ukraine’s accession to Nato there was no date no full commitment and I think I could be very pessimistic of what I mean the next Washington Summit will resemble I cannot see what kind of real progress very unfortunately uh with the exception of Comm in words will result from from from this Summit Professor thank you very much for your time Nicholas tenzer speaking to us thank you

Many are raising concerns over the EU’s financial and military aid to Ukraine as Russia-friendly Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban takes helm of the EU’s presidency Monday. “Orban is certainly a pro-Putin guy, but he also knows that he needs the EU,” said Nicolas Tenzer, guest professor at Sciences Po Paris, adding that EU leaders have previously secured negotiation accession talks for Ukraine.
#EU #Orban #Ukraine

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