PM Orbán: Brussels is marching towards a new kind of bureaucratic dictatorship

“Despite many topics on the agenda, this weekend will be dominated by the subject of war and peace,” Prime Minister Viktor Orbán said on his flight to Brussels late on Tuesday.

Ukraine support

Speaking ahead of a European Union summit, Orbán said that while the community’s next seven-year budget, migration, and the Middle East situation were high on the agenda, “all those, otherwise crucial topics will be overshadowed by the issue of war or peace.”

Participants in the summit will need to discuss “whether to grant support to Ukraine, and if so, how much and in what way, whether it is military of financial aid, considering all possible options,” the prime minister said.

The “pro-war camp” seeks to support Ukraine, while “those that are against providing such support will say that no decision whatever should be passed right now, but wait for the outcome of US-Russia talks,” he said.

“We in the peace-camp should only declare that we support the US peace endeavours and will not make any decisions right now because that would only diminish chances for the success of the US talks,” Orbán said, adding that he expected a “clash” between the two camps in the next few days.

Frozen assets

“Whether to support Ukraine, what should happen to the frozen Russian assets, and if that does not work what kind of financial support we could provide and what ramifications all that would have on the next generation … what position we should take concerning the US peace plans, more or less these are the flowers in the bouquet for everyone to pick one,” the prime minister said.

Concerning the Russian assets, Orbán said the EU had unlawfully changed the previous regime in which “the European Council passed a unanimous decision semi-annually”, extending the freeze for an unlimited term and facilitating a decision without full consensus.

“So far Hungary has had a veto, but we have now been stripped of that right,” Orbán said, adding that “this is an open violation … we will take legal steps.” He added, however, that “concerning the Russian assets a unanimous decision is still required, unless they commit another open violation and declare that this decision also needs a two-thirds majority under the same clause.”

Orbán: Brussels is marching towards a new kind of bureaucratic dictatorship

Orbán insisted that “Brussels is marching towards a new kind of bureaucratic dictatorship” in which nation states’ rights were “simply removed by some agency of the European Commission or the European Council”.

Hungary is in the process of finding allies, countries “that think that confiscating Russian assets and giving them to Ukraine is no other than an open declaration of war.” He added that Russia would also take such a move as a war declaration, raising the question of “what moves they would make in response.”

Orbán said a few weeks ago he had sent a letter to Russian President Vladimir Putin and asked him if Russia would take counter-measures and if they considered “how each participant voted” should the EU confiscate Russia’s frozen assets. Quoting the reply to his letter, Orbán said Russia would “use every means offered by international law and take powerful measures” and would consider each EU member’s position in the vote.

“Hungary has protected itself against economic retaliation,” Orbán said.

“Hungary will never, in no circumstances support that … the frozen forex deposits of not just Russia but of any country should be confiscated,” Orbán said. He also said that Hungary had been “loyal” to the EU concerning the Russian assets and “nothing justifies that Hungary should now suffer curbing of its rights”.

Belgium will pay the price

Answering a question, Orbán said his Belgian counterpart was “in a very difficult situation” because “they want to make Belgium commit the act of confiscation while they do not agree with the act, not even in principle”. But, Orbán said, “Belgium will pay the price” because if the Belgian company handling the Russian assets “is shaken” it could destroy the whole Belgian economy. He also added that the company in question had assets amounting to 16 billion euros in Russia, therefore “retaliation could primarily impact them”.

Orbán also said Germany’s position on the matter was “undecipherable”; concerning the war and the sanctions “Germany is impossible to cooperate with because they are on an unpredictable orbit and drifting towards to war step by step.” “Germany is very close to being the leader in a war between Europe and Russia … while everybody thinks that the war is far away and this whole thing is of a financial issue, the EU is in fact preparing for war,” Orbán warned. He also suggested that Germany was seeking to revive its ailing industry through military development.

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