Fidesz MEP: ‘European cooperation an illusion’

Strasbourg, March 11 (MTI) – It is an illusion to talk of lasting European cooperation or “any kind of unity” between EU member states, Tamás Deutsch, an MEP of the ruling Fidesz party, said on Tuesday, adding that the European Commission “has made political cold war against member states a part of its everyday operations”.

Fidesz MEP Deutsch said that at the root of the “incredibly irresponsible political cold war” were “attempts in Brussels to create an empire”, to which sovereign member states were a hindrance. “The clearest proof and most prevalent symptom of that is the rule-of-law jihad conducted against many member states, but especially Hungary,” Deutsch said.

He accused the EU of operating the “largest consciously constructed system of political corruption, led by the European Commission. This system ploughs billions of euros into supporting NGOs, but actually it finances political action groups, leftist-liberal media outlets that aim to interfere in member states’ domestic affairs and weaken democratically elected governments, especially those opposed to Brussels’s imperial endeavours,” he said.

Regarding the EP debate on European defence, Deutsch said that the debate highlighted the deep crisis within the EU, “and the pro-war speeches … further reinforced that image”.

The European cooperation is in a deep crisis, and as a consequence, Europe lags more and more behind Asia and North America, he said. In the debate, “hardly any contributions represented the goal, backed by hundreds of millions of Europeans, for the EU to take immediate and definitive steps to end the war in Ukraine, and in the interest of a ceasefire and peace talks.” The talks were mostly about “continuing the war” and providing “military support” which would “eat up all resources”, he said.

Manfred Weber, the head of the European People’s Party, said at the debate that “the EU is alone”. “Hungary, on the other hand, has been saying for a long time that the EU is isolated,” Deutsch said.

Deutsch said the US had seen a “patriotic turnabout”. Meanwhile, the EU ceased all diplomatic ties with Russia three years ago, he said, adding that this may lead to the bloc’s isolation “because it can’t get out of the pro-war madhouse and is committing blindly to continuing the war.” The EU is also committing to financing Ukraine during and after the war “despite Ukraine’s insolvency”, he said.

Deutsch said EU leaders were also “daydreaming about fast-tracking Ukraine’s EU accession”, and such a step “would bring the EU to its knees”. The better part of the bloc’s farm and cohesion funding would flow to Ukraine, “and the EU would become Ukraine’s donor organisation”. Based on the “clear” accession rules, Ukraine can’t become a member state “for the foreseeable future”, he said.

Meanwhile, European leaders are planning to radically increase defence spending, “even if that increases member states’ deficits”, he said. The EU would also shoulder the costs of setting up a European security and weapons manufacturing industry, he added. While spending “enormous sums” on financing the war in Ukraine, the EU was neglecting its competitiveness, cohesion policy and common agricultural policy after 2027, which could lead to the bloc’s economic collapse, he warned. “Hungary’s government has been asking for a long time why those funds were not spent on ensuring the security and defence of EU member states rather than supporting Ukrainian military,” he said.

Deutsch also noted that the EU aimed to invoke Article 122 of the European Treaty to strengthen European defence capabilities. That article was designed for cases of natural disasters or wars with a direct impact on an EU country, he said. Invoking Article 122 “basically raises the question of whether the EU wants to get involved in the war as a warring party as well as a financier of Ukraine … that at a time when brokering peace could start,” he added. He said Europe should leave the “spiral of war” behind and stand on the side of brokering peace, because conflicts “can be resolved only through negotiations”.