Hungary made a compromise offer to the European Union member states to finance Ukraine, Prime Minister Viktor Orbán said in an interview published on the website of the French weekly Le Point on Tuesday. According to the Prime Minister, the reception of the proposal was not positive; if member states disagree on issues such as war, migration, gender, they immediately experience an imperialist reaction from Brussels and subject them to blackmail.
In the interview, Viktor Orbán confirmed that the Hungarian position has not changed: there is no military solution to the war in Ukraine, a ceasefire and peace negotiations are necessary, but the proposal of the other member states points in the direction of a military solution, and they recommend that the EU give 50 billion euros to Ukraine over four years .
He added: Hungary, as a sovereign state, opposes this amendment to the budget, but the twenty-six do not accept this right of an independent country, so they are trying to convince Hungary, put pressure on it, blackmail it to force it to support it.
The prime minister said that they made a compromise offer: Hungary is ready to participate in this solution if they guarantee that the member states will decide unanimously every year whether to continue sending this money or not.
He said that the proposal is not about blackmailing it with a veto, but about restoring and maintaining the unity of the European Union.
"So if someone is forced to be a part of something they don't like and they have a right not to be a part of it, but they've been pressured, they've been forced in any way to be a part of it, then it's fair and reasonable that they have the opportunity every year let's give him the opportunity to participate in the decision whether it continues or not"
- he summed up.
When asked about the reception of the proposal, Viktor Orbán said: if I understand correctly, the reception was published in the Financial Times. So the response is not exactly positive.
The prime minister explained that in Brussels they say that if Hungary behaves like a sovereign country, they will immediately put Hungary under a huge financial blockade and connect the Ukrainian issue with the rule of law, even though the two have nothing to do with each other.
To the suggestion that a high-ranking official of the European Council refuted what appeared in the Financial Times, Viktor Orbán said that they have some experience in international politics, we did not come out of kindergarten.
If the Financial Times publishes a document that describes in detail the scenario of the financial blockade against Hungary and the blackmail against it, then it is certain that there is such a
he announced.
He said that in recent years, the European Union has moved more and more in an imperialist direction, it is less and less a community of sovereign states.
The European Commission is driven by political intent because it is waging an ideological war against Hungary; and the new grievance is about migration and gender, it has nothing to do with corruption or the quality of justice. It is clear that the rule of law is not the real argument against Hungary
- He told.
He said that depriving a country of its right to vote in the European Council is only possible if there is a problem with the rule of law, but Ukraine has nothing to do with the rule of law.
He added: the European institutions do not take the rule of law seriously, it is only a tool to blackmail countries that want to preserve their sovereignty and have their own opinions. It is important for Europeans to understand that if member states disagree on issues such as war, migration, gender, they will immediately experience an imperialist reaction from Brussels and subject them to a form of blackmail, he said.
He called the argument that the other 26 member states claim that an annually approved plan does not allow Ukraine to plan its expenditures for four years to be taken seriously, but not acceptable.
He pointed out that it is not known what will happen in Ukraine in the next three to four months, or in another four years. It is also impossible to know, he continued, whether the Americans will participate in the game after the presidential elections in November; it is also impossible to know why the EU would give 50 billion euros to Ukraine.
He called the main argument that there will be elections in Europe in five months.
We would be completely ignoring the opinion of Europeans if we took a decision today that would bind Europe for four years and for a huge sum
he stated. He added: this money would also be very useful for the people of Europe, Europe is suffering more and more from the poor performance of the economy.
When asked whether he was waiting for the re-election of former American President Donald Trump in November, Viktor Orbán said that he already said in 2016 that Europe needs Trump, because the normal attitude in international politics is that they want agreements based on national interests. Calling Trump one of the most successful foreign policy presidents of the United States, he said that if the American president had been called Donald Trump in February 2022, there would no longer be a war in Europe. "Today, I don't see anyone in Europe or America besides him who would be a strong enough leader to stop the war. Peace has a name, Donald Trump's," he said.
He also mentioned that regardless of the war, Ukraine is a serious problem for Europe; the country's rapprochement or even accession to the EU will or could have a catastrophic effect on European economies, especially agriculture. Ukrainian agricultural production is much cheaper than French and Hungarian, and this is not sustainable. We can't compete and we're destroying our farming communities. We cannot do that; the Ukrainians must understand this, Viktor Orbán told Le Point.
MTI
Cover image: Illustration / Photo: ministersterelnok.hu
