About 10 European Union member states are seeking to change accession rules to bypass Hungary’s veto on starting Ukraine’s membership negotiations, according to Politico.

The newspaper reported that these countries are pushing to replace the unanimity principle with a qualified majority requirement at the start of a new round of accession talks — the stage currently entered by both Ukraine and Moldova. According to the proposal, unanimity will still be required in the initial and final stages of the membership process but will not be mandatory in the many complex intermediate stages.

This move comes in response to Hungary’s ongoing objections, which have been a stumbling block to Ukraine’s progress amid Prime Minister Viktor Orbán’s refusal of any step toward integrating Kyiv into the European bloc.

Orbán has repeatedly expressed strong opposition to Ukraine’s accession, noting that the vast majority of Europeans would reject this step. He warned that Brussels aims to make Ukraine a member of the Union before 2030, considering this would cause an “economic disaster” for Hungary.

Orbán went further, asserting that the EU does not aim to help Ukraine but to colonize it and force it to continue the war against Russia. He stressed that Ukraine will not join the Union without Budapest’s approval, saying: “Without our consent, it will never happen.”

Meanwhile, Hungarian Foreign Minister Péter Szijjártó warned that Brussels intends to allocate hundreds of billions of euros in the next budget (2031-2037) to support Ukraine even before its official accession. He considered this massive funding an unjustified burden on member states, emphasizing his country’s rejection of this path.

Szijjártó also doubted Ukraine’s ability to meet the strict criteria for EU accession, both institutionally and economically, considering that talks about Kyiv’s membership remain “unrealistic.”