2023-12-18 21:00:39
Innsbruck (OTS) – Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán regularly goes sledding with the EU. This became clear once once more at the last EU summit. It’s not just regarding Ukraine policy.
Much earlier than even the boldest optimists had hoped, the EU summit at the end of last week gave the green light for the start of accession negotiations with Ukraine. A step that has long been promised to Kiev in meaningful words – knowing full well that this declaration represents little more than a symbolic act. The effort at the level awaits; the accession talks will still take a lot of time and political creativity.
In any case, the EU leaders and the heads of state and government of the EU states spoke of a historic moment on the first day of the summit. But this success story has a catch. The right-wing liberal Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán is doing everything he can to torpedo Ukraine’s EU prospects. Nothing has changed at the summit. And the start of accession talks must be decided unanimously by all countries. Only a procedural trick – Orbán, following German Chancellor Olaf Scholz’s suggestion, simply left the room during the decisive vote – was able to prevent a colossal failure of the summit. A viable agreement with prospects looks different.
Orbán knows regarding his power. And the EU is practicing bending over backwards to somehow get the stubborn Hungarian prime minister to give in – even with the help of a toilet break so that he doesn’t have to vote.
Things become more problematic when it comes to the EU’s fundamental values. Of course, purely by chance, the EU Commission released ten of the total 31 billion euros in frozen funding for Hungary on the eve of the summit. These funds were withheld because of blatant violations of the rule of law. The EU Commission now argued that Budapest had introduced necessary reforms. On the other hand, European parliamentarians spoke of a “kneeling” to Orbán, and there was also talk of bribes for a corrupt regime.
And at the summit, Orbán once once more demonstrated that he knows how to blackmail the EU. He blocked the planned 50 billion euro aid package for Ukraine. Hungary will only say yes here if all funding for Hungary blocked by the EU is paid out.
Orbán knows how to rip off the EU. You won’t be able to overcome Orbán’s stumbling block with any tricks. You shouldn’t lie to your own pocket. And: Sometimes you get the feeling that some people in the EU are happy to let Orbán have his way.
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