BUDAPEST, Hungary (AP) — The real threat facing Hungary is not Russia but the European Union, Prime Minister Viktor Orbán said in a speech to supporters on Saturday, as his nationalist party ramps up an anti-EU campaign ahead of national elections.
Orban is ramping his deceiful rhetoric ahead of difficult elections. Making sutff up to scare people, for instance
Orbán has campaigned on the unsubstantiated premise that the EU would send Hungarians to their deaths in neighboring Ukraine if his party loses
The best thing that could happen is Orban loosing to a less extremist candidate, not Hungary leaving the EU.
We can only hope Hungary citizens don’t reelect an extremist.
traitor on the way out bleating that he was loyal to his master
What would EU lose if Hungary leaves?
As much as I love travelling there for beautiful cities and delicious cuisine, I wonder more about the economic and political consequences for the EU.
The EU would lose a bottomless money pit.
russian speak, Putin tells orban to say what during the time of the year.
That two-speed EU thing really got to him huh?
The door is wide open, who’s stoping you? Join Russia.
The door is wide open
Ukraine and Serbia are actually closing. How would Hungary import or export anything without approval of the EU? Much more than the UK, Hungary has to stay within to retain a minimum of influence.
The EU trades with non EU countries, Hungary could trade with the EU or whoever via cargo planes… it’s the head of government of Hungary saying that the EU is their enemy and not the EU calling Hungary an enemy.
Not being called enemy doesn’t help Hungary to import products if the EU is blocking them. Question is if the EU would do it.
Is anyone threatening that? Besides voices in Orban’s head? The EU keeps trading with the UK. Again, the door is wide open.
It doesn’t matter if the EU is threatening now. It only matters if the EU would do it.
Could Hungary trade with Russia if they leave and Serbia joins? I don’t think so. The EU would still enforce the embargo. Some airfright would be possible, but even that could be terminated.
I know the EU is responsible for everything and what not. But let’s agree that your imagination is on you. The door is wide open, Hungary just needs to say it wants out and it’s out. It wouldn’t be the first.
Of course Hungary can get out. That is not the problem. The problem is that they are landlocked and they wouldn’t get any advantage from leaving.
How is it phantasy that Hungary wouldn’t get embargoed Russian products, even if they left? How could they get them?
Ok leave it then.
Orban is a Russia shill, so whatever.
Weird that EU is sending so much money to Hungary, quite weird for an enemy organization.
Yes. As was regulated in EU law. As with almost all changes in the EU, it took way too long before they managed to curb the funds. I hope that the internal rules will be thoroughly reworked to prevent/limit the damage of future deliquency. Still, good thing these problems were laid bare b/c of the misconduct of HU’s size. Imagine the damage if it was one of the bigger players… could be the end of the EU
Weird that EU is sending so much money to Hungary, quite weird for an enemy organization.
An enemy organisation he’s free to leave at any time, also.
Why would he leave when he can use the mechanisms of the EU to fuck shit up on behalf of Russia.
Why not ease that process, and kick them out altogether? I’m sure they’ll like the Russian Alternative.
Because they’re having elections this year.
But we should consider it if Orban stays in.
There’s no way to kick a member out of the EU.
There’s no way to kick a member out but a member can have their voting rights taken away and have their funds frozen. Hungary already had their funds frozen (which got unfrozen in 2023 but EU might demand those assets back, I made a different comment regarding that down below) and there is an ongoing article 7 process but it hasn’t reached a point where voting rights would be taken away, mostly because it’s very hard to get all the other EU countries to agree on it (for the longest time Poland made sure nothing would happen to Hungary and in return Hungary made sure nothing would happen to Poland).
Mistakes can be rectified.
Not legally, since that change of statutes would require consent from all member states. Yeah, they kinda shot themselves in the foot by not preparing any response for rogue members.
Seems like this was a pretty big mistake nobody considered at the time…
They were dreaming of a better future…
They must have been following the UN Security Council’s example…
a ) let us see how his elections turn out b ) EU is reshaping so minorities cannot block and extort said money any longer.
Looking ahead to a brighter future.
I had to check what you meant because I thought EU turned off the faucet. Well, this is where it gets interesting. Apparently the faucet was turned off as per EU laws and then in December 2023 the EU commission unfroze the funds which amounted to 10 billion euros. But then in April 2024 the EU parliament filed a suit that the commission had wrongly applied the rule of law when unfreezing the funds. A few days ago, prior to the summit, a top advisor of the EU court of Justice said that the EU commission should demand that 10 billion back.
Would be interesting to know if Orban was making his comments before or after hearing this.
I’d guess blackmail. If not exactly voting yes but at least abstaining when UA support, RU sanctions were voted on. The current EU rules were not made for dealing with an actively sabotaging state in mind.
A city guide I met in Budapest a few years back gave me a brief history lesson about Hungary.
“If there’s a right and a wrong choice, Hungary will chose wrong.”
History backs her up.
I once heard “they will eventually do the right thing … after trying all the wrong options”. I think it was about the US or EU though.
It’s a famous quote of Churchill about USA during WW2. Unfortunately he never actually said that, but he said something similar.
Let’s not keep you.
He’s not entirely wrong – the EU is certainly a greater threat to his attempt at an authoritarian regime as the Kremlin Empire. At least I hope so.
Fascist going to fash
I just can’t wrap my head around the fact that this guy is still getting enough votes to remain relevant. I just don’t understand how he could stay in power, if Hungary would actually be allied with Russia instead of the EU the people of Hungary would suffer so much as well, not just woke things like freedom to be yourself or affordable education and healthcare but also financially and economically their lives would be so much worse. How are so many people voting for him wtf.
For the very same reason Trump got elected despite the facts he was a corrupt politician, a failed businessman and a pedophile were well known by the rest of the world: control of the media narratives give his voters an alternate reality in which he’s the good guy.
Edit: typo
I rationally understand this is how it goes, but emotionally it makes zero sense.
The fact that people dislike him, makes others think of him as “strong”.
Also I don’t quite get how Orban can hope to fill his pockets with as much free money as currently should Hungary fall to Russia.
I just can’t wrap my head around the fact that this guy is still getting enough votes
They have laws against secret media influence. Question is, does this allow him to distort Hungarian perception to his advantage, or is the rest of the EU influenced so much by unregulated participants that we can’t understand the Hungarian point of view?
and healthcare but also financially and economically their lives would be so much worse.
A post mentioned that the NHS was canceling operations to save costs. But not only Britain is getting closer to US healthcare conditions.
If the US are going to extort more and more profits, the advantage of the EU will deminish.
Hungary can be abusing the EU or they can be cautious while everybody else is drinking thr Kool-Aid. The future will tell.
As long as Orban is in the government, hungary should have its voting rights removed. Over the past 10 years they have been nothing but destructive and ever since the invasion of Ukraine, they have been actively hostile, as they did everything to keep money flowing to Russia.
