Brussels using all kinds of blackmail: Hungary

By Al Mayadeen English
Source: Agencies
9 Dec 2022 09:43

Hungarian Foreign Minister Peter Szijjarto warns of serious attacks against his country from the EU.

Hungarian Foreign Minister Peter Szijjarto (AFP)

Hungarian Foreign Minister Peter Szijjarto said, on Thursday, that Hungary needs to be ready for serious attacks from the EU, since "Brussels and the liberal propaganda machine" are not discriminating in their methods and are employing various forms of blackmail against Budapest.

Szijjarto made his remarks during a speech at the Civic Solidarity Forum.

"Currently, there is practically no kind of blackmail that Brussels has not resorted to against Hungary... We have always been attacked, attacked fiercely, but in the end, we have always been right. In the period to come, of course, we have to prepare ourselves for future serious attacks. Brussels and the international liberal propaganda machine clearly will not choose the means. Money blackmail, political blackmail, spreading fakes and lies will follow," Szijjarto tersely stated.

Elsewhere in his remarks, Szijjarto stressed that Hungary has built fences on the southern border when it was required to accept migrants, bought COVID-19 vaccines from Russia and China when the EU was waiting for Western-made vaccines, and now supports a peaceful resolution of the conflict in Ukraine.

The minister recalled that over the past 12 years, Budapest's anti-crisis policy has never been "in the mainstream" of the EU.

Szijjarto eviscerated that Budapest's aim was to evade a recession at a time when "the energy crisis on a scale never seen before has arisen in Europe."

It is worth noting that the conditionality regime is a mechanism used to promote the 'rule of law' and to withhold EU funding from states the Commission deems as "delinquent".

Withholding EU cash from defaulting nations is how it operates. The first nation to have problems with this method was Hungary.

Commenting on this issue, Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban lately said that the European Commission is purposefully blocking funds allocated to Hungary to alter the country's policies on a number of issues, including migration and sanctions.

But Budapest has no intention of changing its positions, the Prime Minister stressed.

On September 18, the European Commission proposed to freeze 7.5 billion euros ($7.8 billion) meant for Hungary over allegations of Budapest violating rule-of-law, corruption, and curtailing judiciary and freedom of the press.

The European Union launched the rule-of-law mechanism earlier this year after accusing Budapest of abusing the unanimity vote.

On November 30, the Commission decided to keep freezing the funding for Hungary until Budapest fulfilled all its conditions.

The decision will now have to gain the approval of the Council of EU countries by a qualified majority.

Hungarian EU Affairs Minister Tibor Navracsics told reporters in Budapest on November 29, "We hope that even if the Commission will propose to the Council to prolong the suspension of the EU funds and controlling the implementation process that next year all the suspended EU funds can be at our disposal."

The big picture

Hungary was the only country in the EU to refuse to support Brussels' initiative to train the Ukrainian army in Europe, Hungarian Foreign Minister Peter Szijjarto said in October, highlighting that his country would not participate in the EU's training of Kiev's soldiers.

The country is the only European Union member state to take such a stance, with its Foreign Minister explaining Budapest's position by underlining that it supported peace efforts rather than escalation.

It has been staunchly opposed to the European Union's policies against Russia since the onset of the Ukraine war, with Prime Minister Viktor Orban refusing to impose sanctions the way the rest of the bloc has, in addition to refusing various other anti-Russian measures.