Orbán failed, despite furiously promising to block funds to Ukraine. It was one of the bitterest losses he has suffered in Brussels in recent times. And his behavior is becoming more and more incomprehensible and unworthy
The behavior of Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán towards his partners in the European Union is becoming more and more incomprehensible. And unworthy – for himself, for his unconditionally loyal party members and for his voters. Orbán has promised dozens of times in recent years that he will not accept certain EU initiatives in any way and will mercilessly fight against them. And in the end, he supported them, without giving further explanations and without making it clear whether he received any concessions in return and what, he writes.Deutsche Welle”.
Attacks on Brussels and the West
That was the case this time as well – before the extraordinary summit on February 1, at which a decision was made on financial aid for Ukraine. The meeting was necessary because Orbán refused to vote for the same aid package at the end of last year. For weeks, Orbán kept repeating that he would veto the €50 billion for Ukraine – so fiercely and decisively that it seemed impossible to dissuade him. He called for a “struggle against the bureaucrats in Brussels” and against the “belligerent West” and declared himself the only European leader fighting for peace. He called Ukraine “one of the most corrupt countries in the world”, which should not have been given 50 billion euros just like that. And this was said not by anyone, but by Orban – considered one of the most corrupt European leaders.
However, he withdrew his veto already on Thursday morning in an informal meeting before the forum itself. The surprise was universal, for it had been preceded by weeks of great tension. At the same time, it was not at all clear why Orbán abandoned his promises to impose a veto. In December last year, Orban agreed for Ukraine to start EU accession talks after again threatening a veto, but then Brussels promised to pay some of the blocked funds to Hungary. It was about 10 out of a total of 22 billion euros that were frozen by the EU because of problems with the rule of law and corruption.
This time, however, there was no question of such a deal. Orbán has not received any additional promises, say Brussels. However, Orban posted a video on his Facebook page titled “We fought back”. In it, he claims that Hungary received assurances that the funds intended for it would not go to Ukraine. In addition, there would be an aid control mechanism to ensure the “reasonable use of money”.
Manipulative claims
As he often likes to do, Orbán even now claims in the video something that was not at all the subject of discussion – namely, that the money intended for Hungary will be sent to Ukraine. The control mechanism that Orbán talks about will also not exist. Although the EU aid package will be formally reviewed in two years, it will only be scrapped if all 27 member states vote unanimously in favor.
For the Hungarian prime minister, this is one of the bitterest losses he has suffered in Brussels in recent years. Mainly because of his extremely decisive statements of the previous months and his demands for an annual vote on each subsequent tranche of funds for Ukraine. That way he would secure a veto option for each new vote.
This defeat is probably due to widespread “Orbán fatigue” in the European Union, as Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk called it. In recent weeks, several state leaders, senior politicians and MEPs have expressed their outrage at the Hungarian prime minister. In Brussels, he has more or less been threatened that if he continues to maintain this line of sabotage, the subsidies to Hungary may be frozen again or that a procedure will be started to take away Hungary’s right to vote in the EU.
Violent attacks
To a domestic audience, however, Orbán presents the outcome of the Brussels summit as a success. At the same time, he did not refrain from making harsh racist comments about Ukraine. The reason was the comment of Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba, who last week said that Hungary does not stand on the side of Russia, but on the side of Hungarian interests. It was actually supposed to be a conciliatory comment aimed at Orbán, who is in fact the only European leader with a close relationship with Russian President Putin. Orbán, however, responded very sharply to Kuleba in an interview with the state-run Hungarian radio: “Our Slavic neighbors should not try to explain to the thousand-year-old Hungarian state who we are, because only we decide that. We do not need their external approval.”
Behind this statement lies not only anger over Orbán’s inglorious defeat at the EU summit. The Hungarian Prime Minister will neither distance himself from Russia nor adopt a more constructive position regarding Ukraine in the future. As recently revealed by the Hungarian investigative portal “Direkt36”, behind closed doors, Orban has expressed serious reservations about Ukraine’s EU membership. According to Orban, this would in the long term create a US-controlled “power center” in the EU, which would also include the Baltic states and Poland. And this did not correspond to Hungarian interests.
2024-02-02 14:36:00
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