PM Orbán: Ukraine’s EU accession economic suicide for Europe

Ukraine’s accession to the European Union would be tantamount to “economic suicide” for Europe, Prime Minister Viktor Orbán told public radio on Friday. Orbán also said that if Brussels succeeded in banning Russian energy imports, “Hungarian families will soon be paying twice as much for gas and electricity”.

Meanwhile, asked about the election of Pope Leo XIV, Orbán said the new pontiff was not North American in his view. Rather, he came from Peru, and would “probably carry on where Pope Francis left off”. “I don’t expect any big changes,” he added.

Congregations needed a spiritual leader and “the modern world is trying to replace this with psychologists”. What was needed was “not someone to treat us, but for there to be spiritual leaders.”

Catholics, he added, saw the Holy Father in this way. At the same time, for the congregation of the Reformed Church it was not a matter of indifference who the Pope was as “a solid moral and faith-based foothold” was needed “in the current turbulent world, when Christian values are under constant attack.”

Returning to the question of Ukraine’s EU accession, the prime minister said Hungary did not support it, let alone fast-tracking it.

He said Slovak Prime Minister Robert Fico also thought that admitting Ukraine to the bloc would be “economic suicide”.

• PM Orbán and Slovak Socialist PM Fico discuss friendship, migration, and gas supply

Regarding the war in Ukraine, he said European leaders and the European People’s Party in particular wanted war, to uphold sanctions and phase out Russian energy totally, “and then whatever happens to the European economy is all the same”.

Hungary, on the other hand, was working for peace, Orbán said, adding that if there was peace sanctions could be scrapped, which would lead to cheaper energy and economic momentum, ultimately making things easier for families.

He said this issue exacerbated domestic political disputes because parties like the opposition Democratic Coalition and Tisza followed the decisions of European leaders, while the “nationally minded parties” like the ruling parties opposed them.

Meanwhile, the government, he said, had gone to great efforts to make sure Hungarian families pay among the cheapest energy prices in Europe, notwithstanding the cost of sanctions against Russian energy.

Heating a typical Hungarian house costs around 260,000-280,000 forints as against 480,000 forints in Slovakia and around up to 900,000 in Poland, he said.

Hungary, he added, had bought cheap energy from Russia but a ban would mean paying 600-800 billion forints more for energy purchased from abroad. This was about the same amount the government currently spends on ensuring cheap household energy bills, he added.

Orbán said Hungary and he personally faced a serious fight in Brussels to prevent Hungarian households from paying twice as much for their bills. Saying he needed “strength” for this fight, he called on Hungarians to help the government protect low utility bills and participate in the Voks 2025 vote.

Only the right-wing opposition Our Homeland Movement and the ruling Fidesz-led alliance could be counted on “to resist this Brussels decision”, while the opposition DK and the Tisza Party supported it. He said allies and legal preparations were needed as Brussels planned to bypass a previous decision based on unanimity and decide on the issue with a qualified majority.

Orbán went on to say that members of the European People’s Party must toe the EPP party line, and this meant following its diktats on “the war, Ukraine’s accession to the EU, migration and gender”.

He said that all this was in response to the fact that this week the Tisza Party leader had written an open letter to the EPP leader saying that he did not agree with Ukraine’s fast-tracked EU accession. It was hard to take him seriously when he had compromised his credibility, he said, explaining that the Tisza Party leader first claimed that “he would lift his immunity” as an MEP but was now “sitting in Brussels” and refusing to suspend it in connection with crimes committed in Hungary.

Saying that he knew the EPP inside out from when Fidesz was a member, he said members of the EPP were expected to toe the line.

Orbán said the EPP had made clear that it wanted a change of government in Hungary and would help those who promoted the policies of Brussels and the EPP. This meant supporting the war, accepting Ukraine into the EU, accepting migration, and accepting “the position of the European mainstream on gender issues”, he said. “This is what those in the EPP represent, regardless of what they say or write,” he added.