On June 26, 2025, Russian-language media reported: following the results of the referendum, 95% of Hungarian citizens were against Ukraine becoming a member of the European Union. We have verified the accuracy of such publications.
“The overwhelming majority of Hungarian citizens spoke out in a national referendum against the hasty admission of Ukraine to the European Union,” the agency wrote TASS, citing a statement by Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban. “2,168,431 Hungarian citizens opposed Ukraine’s accession to the EU, which is 95% of those who took part in the referendum. Only 5% supported the admission of Ukraine,” he said before the start of the summit of European Union leaders in Brussels. Similar publications on this topic were released by “Channel One», "Kommersant", "Vedomosti» and other media.
Although in 2014 Hungary supported the territorial integrity of Ukraine and condemned the annexation of Crimea, soon relations between Budapest and Kyiv spoiled. The reason for this was the adoption in Ukraine in 2017 education law, which severely limited the use of minority languages in local educational institutions. This also affected ethnic Hungarians living in Transcarpathia. “Ukraine has stabbed Hungary in the back by introducing changes to the education law, which greatly violates the rights of the Hungarian minority,” stated then Hungarian Foreign Minister Péter Szijjártó.
Since the beginning of the full-scale Russian invasion of Ukraine, Hungary has accepted almost 2 million refugees. Near 40,000 of them received temporary protection status in the country, the rest went further to other EU countries or returned to Ukraine. In parallel, the Hungarian government has repeatedly blocked assistance to Ukraine and her accession to the EU.
On the last issue, the Hungarian government and carried out a so-called referendum, which in fact is not one. Carrying out referendum regulated by the Hungarian Constitution. To start the procedure, you need to collect the signatures of 200,000 voters (for a mandatory referendum) or 100,000 voters and the president of the country (for an optional referendum). The subject of a referendum can only be an issue within the competence of parliament, and the wording on the ballot is pre-approved by the National Election Commission.
The last time such a national referendum took place in Hungary was on April 3, 2022, on the same day as parliamentary elections. It was dedicated to the issue protecting children from “LGBT propaganda”. That referendum was declared invalid, since no issue reached the required threshold of 50% of valid votes: many voters boycotted the referendum or spoiled the ballots.
The procedure that Orban spoke about in his speech on June 26 is not a referendum, but the so-called national consultation. This is a survey of the country's citizens, which is completely controlled by the government: to conduct it, you do not need to put forward an initiative and collect signatures, you do not need to have the wording of the questions certified by the election commission, etc. The results of the national consultations do not create any legal obligations for government bodies, but the Hungarian government is active uses them to explain one or another of their steps.
The voting process in a national consultation also differs from referendums. There is no need to come to the polling stations - ballots are sent to voters by mail, they can be sent back in the postage prepaid envelope provided. Also, during the national consultation, you can vote online (in 2025 this option will be available took advantage almost 250,000 people).
In addition, the number of voters who voted against Ukraine’s accession to the EU is not indicated quite correctly in many publications. According to the results published by the Hungarian government, in the 2025 national consultation 2,284,732 people took part (and 95% of them voted against it). However this amounts to only about 29% of the total number of voters in Hungary.
Thus, it is incorrect to call the vote in which Hungarian citizens expressed their opinion on Ukraine’s accession to the EU a referendum. 95% of those who voted were indeed against it, but less than a third of all Hungarian voters took part in the national consultation.
Cover photo: screenshot from kormany.hu
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