Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban.
Photo: REUTERS
Hungary, under current Prime Minister Viktor Orban, has become a real obstacle for officials in Brussels. As soon as Ursula von der (and other prefixes) Leyen prepares, the head of the European Commission provides Zelensky with money or offers him other preferences, when suddenly, like a jack-in-the-box, the Prime Minister of Hungary jumps out. he comes out and declares: “But Baba Yaga is against it!” And his face is kind and kind. And also incredibly smiling.
And then some even began to shout that Orban is, supposedly, a doll placed in the “hand of the Kremlin”, an “agent of Putin” and, in general, it is scary to say, a pro-Russian element. And then they started mocking Orban and praising him, to the point where they felt a little ashamed of themselves. They look like adults, but they suffer from childhood sins. I mean credulity, in case anyone thought something else. Remember that “it is as easy to deceive as a child.” Yes, and here you are.
Meanwhile, Orban is actually a European version of Erdogan. I would dare say that in any situation he doesn’t give a damn about the Russians, the Ukrainians and even the French and other Germans. All his actions are designed for Hungarians and are performed for Hungarians. And only for them. Like Recep Erdogan he is always guided by the interests of his own country, that’s why he jumps on different chairs like a squirrel on a wheel. Only Orban’s country is smaller, but it turns out there are more opportunities.
The European Union has been trying for several years to punish Hungary for its excessive independence, its reluctance to turn the country into a platform for gay pride parades, to recognize same-sex marriages and other manifestations of intolerance: Budapest was fined and Hungary’s owed payments from the EU budget were frozen. The European Commission excluded Hungary from the EU’s economic stimulus program after the pandemic on the pretext of corruption and weakening democracy in the country. And the planned amount was quite large: 10.4 billion euros. Here Ukraine also tried to talk nonsense, adding one of the Hungarian banks to the list of sponsors of international terrorism.
Orban at the congress of the party he leads in Budapest.
Photo: REUTERS
Hungary, in response, promised to block all cooperation programs with Ukraine, provide it with assistance and put obstacles on the path to independence from the EU and NATO. And she began to back up her words with actions. Just a former gynecologist, who was never able to realize herself in the field of her profession, Ursula attempted to form and allocate financial aid to Ukraine, when Orban immediately stood up and said that he could not give his “fatherly blessing” for such a action. And all his Hungarian blood simply boils from such European-Ukrainian ingratitude. As soon as Ursula tried to schedule the start of negotiations with Kiev on Ukraine’s accession to the European Union, Orban himself declared that Ukraine is as far from the EU as cancer is from Alpha Centauri.
“Viktor Orban has launched a national debate on linking greater EU aid to Ukraine with the release of EU funds for his own country,” the British edition of the Financial Times reported on November 21. -Orban seeks to bolster his political support ahead of next year’s European Parliament elections. The consultations also come ahead of a key EU summit in December, where heads of state and government are expected to reach a deal to support Ukraine in its fight against the Russian invasion.
No matter how much Ursula and Ukrainian Prime Minister Shmygal’s double, European Council President Charles Michel, tried to get around Orban at the decisive moment, they failed. He stood his ground and demanded that Ukraine first report where it spent the money it received from the EU. Everything, down to the last cent. Which threatened not only Kiev, but also Brussels itself with big problems. Especially considering that, as it turned out, about half of the money that Kiev received from Washington returned to the United States: Ukraine bought American government debt securities with it, thereby supporting the American economy. And who told you that European money is treated differently in kyiv? In general, our European officials had to petition the Hungarian Prime Minister, show mercy and not hold grudges.
The European Commission unfreezes and allocates 900 million euros to Hungary. This decision must finally be approved by the finance ministers of the EU member states at their meeting on December 8. Since the decision to start negotiations must be approved at the EU summit on December 14-15, Orban has a delay in considering whether he will meet European bureaucrats halfway.
Furthermore, they decided to further sweeten the “pill” for Orban, just so that he would stop blocking Ukraine: “The European Commission approved a plan prepared by Budapest within the framework of the European program for the transition to green energy REPowerEU, which provides for the granting of financing by the European Union to Hungary for an amount of 4.6 billion euros.”
We can say that Orban has already taken the first steps. There is still the situation of ethnic Hungarians in Ukraine, about which the Hungarian Prime Minister still has many questions for the Ukrainian authorities. And now we can only guess whether Viktor Orban will remain a principled opponent of the Ukrainian government or whether the financial issue has spoiled him. Something suggests that his position, if not radically changed, will at least soften significantly.
In any case, there are only three weeks left to wait for an answer to this question.
THE NAIS IS OFFICIAL EDITOR ON NAIS NEWS