60 pc of Hungarians think that PM Orbán won against Brussels in the rule of law debate

However, the vast majority of the people, 67 pc, would still say ‘yes’ when asked whether to join the EU or not. What is more, 54 pc of Hungarians do not regard Hungary as a constitutional state.

According to Népszava, the Publicus Institute did a representative survey regarding the issue in December. Based on its results, 2/3rds of Hungarians think that the Hungarian democratic institutions, for example, the public media, the public prosecution, and the courts, are under the influence of the political leadership. Moreover, they think that public procurement winners are not those who submit the best offer for the given project. 

Therefore, it is not surprising that Hungarians expect a lot from the European Union’s rule of law mechanism. 63 pc of the people said that democratic institutions would operate better in the country thanks to it. Interestingly, every fourth Fidesz supporter agrees with this, which is considerable feedback to the governing parties. 2/3rds of Hungarians think that the EU should give financial help only for those countries that follow the community’s norms. Moreover,

63 pc disagreed with PM Viktor Orbán’s veto threat during the EU’s budget debate because of the rule of law mechanism.

Even ten pc of the supporters of Fidesz disagreed with the prime minister’s move. However, most of them regarded the issue as a question of sovereignty. Among them, those are in a relative majority who think that Brussels regards only those states constitutional which accept migrants. Meanwhile, 38 pc think that the whole question is about where the power of the European Union ends.

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In the case of the voters of the opposition parties, 89 pc think that the debate with Brussels was about how the European Union would not like to support countries where democratic institutions and the corruption-free distribution of allowances is not secure. Interestingly, 59 pc of those who consider themselves neutral agreed with that.

Every fourth voter thinks that the government would like to leave the European Union. However, 86 pc of the people think that such a decision would be harmful. Meanwhile, if there was a referendum today,

67 pc would say ‘yes’ to joining the EU, but 24 pc would tick the ‘no’ box.

This has been the second-highest rate in favour of the EU since 2009. 

If the government left the EU, even they would lose 22 pc of their supporters. 60 pc of the people filling out Publicus’s survey think that Viktor Orbán won the rule of law debate against the European Union. 52 pc of Hungarians think that the debate went well for Hungary, too, while 48 pc think that it also benefitted the EU. Moreover,

62 pc of the people say that the Hungarian opposition suffered a defeat regarding the issue.

Source: Népszava