I will remind you that before the planned EU summit, Orban threatened to block the EU’s invitation to start accession negotiations with Ukraine and Moldova, as well as to block the EU’s 12th package of economic sanctions against Russia and the granting of long-term aid to Ukraine in the amount of EUR 50 billion. The EU, trying to reach a compromise, unblocked part of the frozen “Recovery Program” and other funds for Hungary in the amount of 10.2 billion euros.
Orbán declared that it was not enough. It is necessary to unblock everything frozen – about 32 billion euros. For these 10.2 billion, at the suggestion of German Chancellor Olaf Scholz, he was ready to go out for coffee at the moment when the vote on starting accession negotiations with Ukraine and Moldova and granting candidate status to Georgia (Sakartvelo) is taking place.
True, after “drinking coffee”, Orban returned to the boardroom and blocked the 50 billion euro aid package for Ukraine. This veto does not mean that Ukraine will not get this money. This is likely to mean (barring any unexpected twists) that the procedure for allocating this money will be complicated and that this aid will not be automatically extended every financial year.
Therefore, it can be said that this time again we managed to achieve the desired solution – the wolf is fed and the goat is alive. But at the same time, Orbán’s self-righteousness points to dangerous trends in the EU’s decision-making mechanism. Even more, it leads to growing skepticism about the self-worth of a united Europe. Maybe this European community – the EU – does not make sense at all? Nor can we forget that Hungary was not the only one that had objections to all these issues. Austria and Slovakia also took, as they say, an “ambiguous” position at certain points. True, not so adamant.
Considering the fact that Hungary’s general, let’s say anti-liberal political course has a relatively large number of supporters in Latvia as well, in these matters it is extremely important to separate ideas and principles from some narrow, perhaps purely selfish interests. Sometimes claims are made in Orban’s defense that he was not the first to start this “blackmail” policy. The European Commission was the first to punish Hungary and Poland with money for policies which, in the opinion of the EC, do not comply with the principles of EU rule of law.
It is not the purpose of this article to evaluate who was and is right in this “rule of law” conflict. Even if Hungary and Poland were 100% right, even then to “play back” on a warring country that suffered from unprovoked aggression, which is not the least bit guilty of freezing EU funds, is unfair, disrespectful and unjust. I will say more. It’s disgusting. And Orban’s actions do not evoke any other emotions. Therefore, the talk that the EU got what it deserved is, to say the least, incorrect. They are shallow and small.
All the more so because, in my opinion, Orbán’s actions were not motivated by any ideological principles or higher conviction. There is, of course, no direct, irrefutable evidence, but I join those commentators who believe that Orbán is acting in this way because of primitive, selfish interests. It is not even about any Hungarian national interests and beneficial gas or other deals with Putin’s Russia. It is the most common type of bribery following the same scheme as Putin bought the rights to host the Olympic Games and the World Cup in football. I repeat, neither I nor anyone else has any evidence of these corruption schemes. These are only suspicions that arise from information in the public domain.
These suspicions that are in the air can be voiced by ordinary people, but not by high-ranking officials. Therefore, the situation when there are suspicions, but they are not allowed to express them out loud, creates that strange feeling of awkwardness when no one knows what to do. In this sense, as often happens, our Lithuanian brothers stand out, who do not suffer from the “what if we jump out there” syndrome.
Member of the European Parliament, Rasa Juknevičiene, calls from the Brussels tribune to look for legal, legitimate opportunities to deprive Hungary of voting rights, because “what does Orbán work for? For Putin?”, the deputy asks rhetorically. She directly states that Orbán’s actions are undermining the EU as an institution. Everyone sees it but does nothing. There are no tools in the EU to prevent this or they are too weak. “If we continue to allow Putin to undermine not only Ukraine, but also the EU, we will face an existential test,” warns Yuknevičiene.
Here, of course, it should be taken into account that when pressing on Hungary and looking for legal mechanisms to influence it, it is easy to “bend the stick” and simply break it. After all, such mechanisms may someday be used against any EU member state. Also against us. Therefore, there are no easy and quick solutions. Perhaps there should be no rush with such, although even before Orbán’s jump, debates on the reform of the EU governance model have already started in the European Parliament, in which, among other things, the volume of issues that require the consensus of all EU member states to be adopted is significantly reduced. Another question is how long this debate will last, when and to what result it will lead. In addition, taking into account the upcoming European Parliament elections in June 2024.
On the other hand, the EU is increasingly becoming an amorphous, incapacitated institution that finds it difficult to make decisive decisions in critical situations without jeopardizing its integrity and even its general existence. Although the United Kingdom’s exit from the EU is gradually fading into history and the threat of the next “exit” seems to be losing its relevance, it can be revived at any moment, as soon as someone begins to feel that there is no benefit or no particular meaning to the membership of the EU.
Since the political processes in the world have started a difficult-to-predict movement since the Russian invasion of Ukraine, the EU may be subjected to an “existential test” warned by the Lithuanian MP at any moment. Unfortunately, this has to be taken into account. We live in such an era when it seemed that the biggest threat is the intestinal gases produced by cattle and their impact on the planet’s climate, but it turned out – “if only these were our problems”.
2023-12-18 03:15:34
#European #Union #Viktor #Orban
