Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban cautioned against delaying Croatia's European Union accession process at a plenary session of a conference of Community and European Affairs Committees of Parliaments of the EU (COSAC) in Budapest on May 30, the Hungarian presidency of the EU says on its website.
"Some believe that the accession process of Croatia should be slowed, which is an erroneous idea. Everybody denies this would be the case, but I think they are acting this way," Orban said in a speech.
According to him, if Croatia's accession is delayed, it can have serious consequences.
"If no result is achieved, which could keep Balkan countries on the European track, and then we will be risking the region's stability. If we cannot offer a real perspective, we will lose face," Orban said.
The objective of the EU's Hungarian Presidency is to conclude accession negotiations with Croatia in June, and as PM he stressed that Hungary "will do everything" to achieve this.
The Hungarian Presidency believes that the EU's trustworthiness depends on the success of the enlargement process.
"The European Commission has an enlargement strategy, which is slowly but surely making progress; and there is only one point where the results were unexpected: the case of Macedonia," Orban said, adding he would appreciate if Member States did not exercise their rights to veto, allowing accession negotiations to start. "This way, Macedonia will remain a blocked country, which is no good," Orban said.
