MEP Gyöngyösi: High time to sanction Viktor Orbán and his cronies

The European Union has long been struggling with the problems caused by Viktor Orbán and his regime, which poses an increasingly difficult challenge for the European community both financially and politically. The repeated political messages and warnings have all failed so far: Fidesz constantly and methodically keeps going against all European values, undermining Europe and more and more openly serving Moscow’s interests.

Meanwhile, the European community truly appears to be more determined to protect financial resources and core European values.

Due to Orbán’s behaviour, millions of Euros of EU funding are still pending, without which the Hungarian state is bound to go bankrupt in the long run. The violent clientelism and the open political takeover of Hungarian universities has now led to most of our higher education institutions being excluded from Erasmus programmes. This is the first palpable measure that will be felt by a significant share of the Hungarian population.

It is doubtful however, if this step makes Hungarian people truly realize the gravity of the situation. 

The Orbán regime will obviously refuse to back down, since they still have full control of their brainwashing propaganda machine. They have already started the verbal anti-EU warfare by twisting the case as if it was the EU that had broken the rules and not Fidesz.

I firmly believe there’s only one way to efficiently fight against the Orbán regime: by cutting its operators themselves off their resources and opportunities. As long as it’s only the Hungarian people who feel the consequences but Fidesz’ communication channels remain intact, they will keep spreading the most absurd and outlandish lies.

So it’s high time for the EU to impose sanctions on Viktor Orbán, the members of his government, their families and business partners.

Freeze their assets and ban any business or financial relations with them. This move would sufficiently isolate Fidesz’ pro-Russia system and take away its communication tools. It’s no longer just Hungary’s interest now; it’s in the interest of Europe as a whole, too.

Disclaimer: the sole liability for the opinions stated rests with the author(s). These opinions do not necessarily reflect the official position of the European Parliament.

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