Péter Szijjártó, Minister of Foreign Affairs and Trade, said Hungary is working on a broad intergovernmental economic cooperation agreement with Montenegro that will give Hungarian companies a bigger role in digital and infrastructure developments there.

After a meeting with his Montenegrin counterpart, Filip Ivanovic, in Budapest on Thursday, Minister Szijjártó noted investments by Hungarian companies in Montenegro's IT, telecommunications and financial sectors. He added that Hungary's exports to Montenegro had exceeded EUR 100m last year, a new record.

Minister Szijjártó said it was a matter of pride that Montenegro had closed three chapters of its European Union accession negotiation chapters during Hungary's EU presidency in the second half of 2024. He added that the EU needed new impetus that could only come from the Western Balkans.

He called out bureaucrats in Brussels and a number of member states for "boycotting" EU enlargement in the region, while the countries there suffered "false promises and lecturing".

While the Western Balkan countries have waited more than 14 years, on average, to join the EU, European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen has said Ukraine could join by 2030, he said. "We firmly reject that double standard," he added.

Countries in the Western Balkans are in better shape than Ukraine "in every respect", he said, adding that it would be "unthinkable" for Ukraine's accession to precede that of any country in the Western Balkans.

While the accession of Western Balkan countries would benefit the EU, Ukraine's accession would bring many risks and could "ruin" the European economy and farming sector, he said.

Minister Szijjártó added that Hungarians needed a chance to weigh in on Ukraine's possible EU accession.