Up to three-quarters of European Parliament unambiguously support Ukraine – German MEP

German Member of the European Parliament Michael Gahler expressed hope that, despite the strengthening of populists in some EU countries and their increased presence in the European Parliament itself, political support for Ukraine, including on its path toward European integration, will not diminish.

He stated this in an interview with Ukrinform.

“We have a stable support of five political groups: Christian Democrats, Social Democrats, Liberals, Greens, and Conservatives. It is 70 to 75% of the seats in the parliament when we see the results of the votes. So, that will definitely not fade away,” the politician affirmed.

Commenting on the situation regarding the opening of the first cluster in the accession negotiations, he acknowledged that although the fundamental decision to launch talks has already been made, existing practice requires unanimity to open each chapter. Therefore, the agreement of all 27 countries is needed.

“I think this very practice is there, but it is not in the treaty as such. It has been a practice and at some point agreed to do it that way, but I think that could be changed, perhaps with a qualified majority,” the MEP noted.

At the same time, he is confident that the strongest critic of Ukraine’s EU membership, Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán, will lose the 2026 elections and that Hungary will no longer create major obstacles. In that case, the party of Slovak Prime Minister Robert Fico will not dare to block the process on its own. As for the likely future Czech Prime Minister, Andrej Babiš, he is expected to focus primarily on economic issues.

As reported, President Volodymyr Zelensky has said that by the end of the year, Ukraine will be ready to open all six negotiation clusters for EU accession. At the same time, he noted that, due to Hungary’s current position, it is not possible to open even the first cluster.

Ukrinform’s photos are available for purchase here.