Brussels believes that Kyiv and Budapest should solve existing bilateral issues based on EU's values and principles
The European Union believes that Ukraine and Hungary should resolve the existing contradictions based on European values; the EU's position on Kyiv remains unchanged.
So, in Brussels on Tuesday, European External Action Service (EEAS) representative Peter Stano commented on the situation in relations between Kyiv and Budapest.
"The only thing the EU can do is to encourage everyone who is involved in bilateral issues, try to solve them based on EU values and principles and on the principles of good neighborly relations," he said.
Speaking about Ukraine's European aspirations, Stano reiterated what was said on behalf of all 27 EU member states that "Ukraine is an important neighbor, this is a country with which we have many links and huge cooperation – we have the Association Agreement which is the most ambitious among all our partners and we are committed as the EU to continue this very close cooperation in order to bring it as close to the EU as possible reflecting the ambitions of the Ukrainian people and reflecting on the delivery by Ukrainian authorities of all expectations and requirements that were set by the EU side."
"There is no change in the EU policy when it comes to Ukraine as it was communicated repeatedly and restated, reconfirmed most recently at the EU-Ukraine summit earlier this month," the representative of the European diplomacy said.
Answering a clarifying question about Hungary's possible support for future EU decisions regarding Ukraine, Stano said: "It is not my role to comment on remarks or declarations which were made in the context of bilateral relations between two countries which are trying to solve whatever issues they might have. There is no change in any of the EU decisions regarding Ukraine. Regardless of someone might have said or what has been reported as someone might have been saying, the EU continues very close cooperation with Ukraine based on very clear set of criteria, and expectations and agreements, and this is not changing in this moment. And I wouldn't go into speculation whether it might be changed later on. The decision of the EU are taken by unanimity when it comes to questions related to third countries and especially their ambitions to get as close to the EU as possible," he explained.
At the same time, the EU representative stressed the importance of "that relations between individual member states and Ukraine continue to be conducted based on the principles and EU values and good neighborly cooperation, and every issue that there is between two countries should be solved between the two counties themselves."