Fidesz MP: Hungary joined the EU as a partner, not a serf

“We did not join NATO or the European Union to be a serf but a member with full rights,” the group leader of ruling Fidesz said in The Bold Truth About Hungary podcast.

Máté Kocsis said the EU leadership was “so committed to Ukraine’s entry” that “it no longer matters who is an ally or who is an enemy, or a neutral party … we are members of NATO and the EU … we are their allies, peers, their partners … even if we have a different position on some important issues.” “Then there is Ukraine, which is not a member, nor an ally … no doubt, it has been attacked … but not by Europe,” Kocsis said.

He said plans to fast-track Ukraine’s European Union membership were “the best decision in view of their own interests, since nine out of ten agricultural companies in Ukraine are in fact in US, or Western European … ownership.” The EU’s direct agricultural subsidies would therefore “transit Ukraine and land in Western Europe,” Kocsis said.

Kocsis also said if Ukraine were to be a member of the EU, the country could send 70-75 deputies to the European Parliament, some 10 percent of the whole assembly. Those MEPs, he added, “would be grateful to the incumbent, liberal Brussels elite” and “would not join the Patriots group associated with (Hungarian PM) Viktor Orban.” Ukraine does not like that “the Hungarian government wants to make a decision over their EU accession based on feedback from Hungarian voters,” Kocsis said.