Ukraine is many years away from joining the European Union, Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban said at a news conference recapping the results of the past year.
"The distance between Ukraine and the European Union is the same as between Mako and Jerusalem," he said, referring to an old Hungarian adage that refers to a small town from where, as legend has it, a certain knight traveled to the Holy Land in the Middle Ages. "To put it another way, it will take many, many years to cover that distance."
He conceded that he did not understand why anyone would start talks with Ukraine on EU accession now that it is completely unprepared for the move.
"It seems unrealistic," the Hungarian prime minister said. "It would be much better to first establish some kind of strategic-partnership relations between the EU and Ukraine."
