Ferenc Mernyó: Would the average European citizen die for Ukraine?

Because the hastag PrayForUkraine and the profile picture with the Ukrainian flag are now very popular. I wonder if you had to throw a euro into a box for every payment, how much would it be?

What am I not reading! The average German commentator expects his government to use the huge amount of money allocated to solving the situation in Ukraine to improve health care and schools, Csilla Gubás wrote a few days ago, already after the outbreak of the Russian-Ukrainian conflict (see picture ) . .

I wouldn't stop here.

I will tell you a classic European Union tale.

***

It happened - many, many years ago, when there was no Russian-Ukrainian war, but we were over a coup in Ukraine and in response Putin annexed Crimea - that Brussels figured out that Ukraine should be included in the EU immediately. However, the admission procedure, which is preceded by legal harmonization - which is not real harmonization, because the EU does nothing, it is just a euphemistic name for the fact that the country wishing to join adapts 100%, adopts EU law - and for years, sometimes a lasts for decades. And when the countless chapters (energy sector, agriculture, competition law, etc.) are closed, the admission begins, in which the members (now 27) decide on the admission, and finally the aspirant decides on admission by means of a qualified parliamentary decision and/or referendum.

It can be seen that this is a long process, it took almost a decade and a half for us, some Balkan countries, e.g. Serbia has also been on the waiting list for at least a decade. I note here that a few years ago, if the Croats had voted on the accession of Croatia, there would not have been a 'YES' vote.

Of course, we know that there are many problems in the EU, the political functioning of Brussels is - to put it mildly - problematic, the core countries do not like that the Eastern European countries that were previously admitted are beginning to recognize their interests and do not vote for everything mechanically. There is not as much money as there used to be, and there are many more hungry mouths, so the question of enlargement is not popular today either in Brussels or in Western Europe.

That is why the expansion process is at a standstill. And also because with the new entrants, the old (rich) members would have to pay even more money for the faster economic upliftment of the entrants (see cohesion funds), while there are hardly any countries in the EU which, for example, can today fulfill the Maastricht criteria (all should be closed, but at least it couldn't be hired today - from the Greeks to the Italians and Spaniards to the French and the Germans; that's funny, isn't it?). Therefore, countries that meet the conditions, such as the aforementioned Serbia, are kept waiting.

"Enlargement is not on the agenda," is whispered in Brussels when someone asks why Serbia, Montenegro or Macedonia have not already been included. And yet Macedonia, ad absurdum, even renounced its name in order to remove the most senseless political obstacle (the Greeks' puffing that they also have a province called Macedonia; Macedonia is also Macedonian in the language of the Macedonians - similar to Serbian - with a k).

And Macedonia has been waiting for admission for 17 years, which isn't on the agenda right now. Macedonia can wait, who knows how long, but the corrupt Ukraine, drowning in political-economic chaos, cannot...

But the leader is Turkey, which has been waiting for admission for about sixty (!) years, but its admission - although the Turks have met or would meet all the conditions for joining - is not on the agenda (in fact, the Turks are no longer interested in the matter; those who once wanted the EU , they all died, but they are at least over eighty; a new generation has grown up).

Of course I understand, the Turks are a country of almost 100 million (85 million, 2020), they would have the highest voting quota (the second would be Germany with 80 million, the third would be France with 66 million, then the Italians, Spaniards, and Poles would follow). If we add to this that Turkey is Muslim (if not as much as Arab countries) and insists on certain issues, for example, there will never be an LGBTQ free area - which sixty years ago we would not have understood what he was talking about if someone brought it up - then it is understandable why Brussels (and Paris, and Berlin, previously also London) invests in the admission of Turks.

With the admission of the Turks, everything would turn upside down in Brussels, which imagines itself more and more as a policymaker.

***

But returning to the original question, Ukraine - Europe's poorest and most corrupt country - for some reason, maybe because it has a lot of high-quality agricultural land, or because they just wanted to rub pepper under Moscow's nose, Brussels liked it so much that it wanted to take it anyway. However, Ukrainian law is far from European (Roman) law, and the country could not even be brought up to the level of the EU's poorest regions with all the EU's resources.

But Brusselsites were not made of such wood that they could not circumvent the EU rules in this as well. That's why it was invented to make Ukraine an associate member (with 15-20 million Ukrainian Russians, hello!), then you don't have to wait, legal harmonization will come, you don't have to pour a lot of money, in return Ukraine can't vote on important EU issues. In other words, you will have no or hardly any rights.

However, his lands can be purchased. Pure profit.

There was one problem: so that all of this could not be easily reversed later, it was ordered that the associate membership must also be sealed with a strong authorization. The Dutch were the first to put the referendum on Ukraine's associate membership on the agenda. And what no one expected happened. With a not very high turnout (32%), the Dutch strongly rejected Ukraine's associate membership. 2/3 of the voters said no - hirado.hu summarized the preliminary results on the evening of the vote.

The house of cards in Brussels was blown away. However, Western European investors are already cutting their teeth, buying up ten thousand hectares of Europe's best farmland for pennies.

I am sure that the Ukrainians would have gone for associate membership. Look, we are already Europeans, not like the ugly and evil Asian Russians! And only later would they have understood how rudely they were cheated in their great European enthusiasm with a small alms and a worthless "Társult tag" plecsni.

But what can we think of a country that hundreds of dollar millionaires and billionaires leave in a few days - along with their money - when Putin raises his index finger?

***

But the case had another unexpected side effect:

On July 10, 2017, the upper house of the Dutch parliament abolished the institution of the referendum. The proposal to cancel the non-binding referendum was voted by 40 of the 75 upper house representatives. The proposal was supported by the four parties of the government coalition (VVD, CDA, D66, Christian Union) and two senators of the SGP (orthodox Calvinist Reformed Party), the mandiner of the time wrote.

So, the Dutch political elite was so afraid of the people that they even abolished the institution of the opinion-expressing referendum for the greater glory of the rule of law. Because the people would still go through the calculations of the elite.

And they, in the West, teach us about the rule of law and democracy, and even about morality, when they made us think that the Dutch have democracy and the rule of law in their genes. What about here in the East...

And Hungary must be brought to its knees - said Dutch Prime Minister Rutte himself.

And then after that - fresh news - it is said that several EU member states, but perhaps even Ursula herself, demand that Ukraine be given EU candidate status, according to some, Ukraine should be immediately admitted to the EU. I don't understand what this is good for, especially in light of the fact that by the time this decision is overturned, Ukraine may de facto cease to exist. Why not include Serbia or Macedonia, which is ready to join? Or do they in Brussels enjoy being able to poke the bear with a four-meter long spear from a safe distance behind bars?

Because - as a dear friend of mine aptly remarked - it's so good-natured, the way the bear grunts at every poke...

The author is a military engineer and freelance publicist

Sources:

On September 16, 2014, the European Union-Ukraine government adopted the draft association agreement.

https://hu.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eur%C3%B3pai_Uni%C3%B3

In the Netherlands, the opinion-expressing referendum was abolished

https://mandiner.hu/cikk/20180717_hollandia_nepszavazas

Netherlands not for the EU-Ukraine association?

https://hirado.hu/…/hollandia-nemet-mond-az-eu-ukrajna…/

Featured image: freechurch.org