PM Orbán: Ukraine would not add value to the bloc but bankrupt it
Ukraine’s accession to the European Union would not be “a good deal”, Prime Minister Viktor Orbán said on Tuesday, adding that Ukraine would not add value to the bloc but bankrupt it.
Reacting to comments made by European People’s Party leader Manfred Weber at a press conference today, Orbán said that Hungary had been admitted to the EU because this had benefitted it members. “It was a good deal — for Germany too, Herr Weber,” the prime minister wrote in a post on Facebook.
Orbán said that Ukraine’s accession, in contrast, would not be “a good deal”. He added: “Sending Ukraine European money instead of using it to boost Europe’s ailing economy would be a huge mistake. It’s time European leaders represented the European people, Herr Weber!”
As we wrote earlier, PM Orbán launched new campaign targeting guest workers, echoes of 2004 anti-migrant rhetoric
Ukraine’s EU membership would be ‘catastrophic’ for Hungary
The stakes of the ongoing referendum on Ukraine’s European Union accession are “huge”, the parliamentary state secretary of the Prime Minister’s Cabinet Office said on Tuesday, arguing that Brussels wanted to decide on fast-tracking the neighbouring country’s integration without seeking the public’s opinion.
“This would have catastrophic consequences for Hungary,” Balázs Hidvéghi said in a video on Facebook. He sad that supporting Ukraine has so far cost Hungarian families close to 2.5 million forints each (EUR 6,200), adding that Ukraine’s accession could cost each Hungarian household an additional 4 million forints a year.
Hidvéghi said Hungarian farmers would lose 7 billion euros in EU funding, warning that “those who say ’yes’ to Ukraine will say ’no’ to monies Hungary is entitled to.”
Szijjártó: EC wants to make Hungary pay price of ‘senseless, immeasurable support for Ukraine’
The European Commission wants to make Hungary, among other countries, pay the price of its “senseless and immeasurable” support for Ukraine by banning Russian energy imports, Péter Szijjártó, the foreign minister, said on Tuesday, adding that this would pose a “serious threat” to the country’s energy security.
Speaking in reaction to a fresh announcement by European Union Energy Commissioner Dan Jorgensen, Szijjártó said in Tiszaújváros, in north-eastern Hungary, that after the “complete failure” of its sanctions on Russia, the EC was “making another serious mistake by banning energy imports from Russia”.
“The forced, artificial and ideological ban on Russian energy causes serious difficulties for the economies of many European countries; it causes serious problems for some European companies in terms of international competitiveness, and poses a serious threat of price increases on the energy market,” the minister said.
“It’s totally clear what this decision by the European Commission is about,” Szijjártó said. “This decision is about the European Commission wanting to make countries that operate in a sensible way and pursue sensible policies, like Hungary, pay the price of its senseless and immeasurable support for Ukraine, meaning the price of quickly pushing Ukraine into the European Union.”
“We reject this, we refuse to pay the price of the senseless and immeasurable support going to Ukraine,” he said. “We refuse to pay the price of Ukraine’s extra quick EU accession.”
He said the EC’s decision was also a “grave violation” of the sovereignty of member states, including Hungary, arguing that EU law made it clear that member states are free to determine their own energy mix and decide where they buy energy from.
“This decision by the European Commission poses a serious threat to the security of Hungary’s energy supply, because energy security is not a political issue, but a rock-solid political one,” Szijjártó said. “You can buy natural gas and crude oil from where there are pipeline connections. You can’t buy natural gas and crude oil from places with which there aren’t.”
Read here or more news about Ukraine’s EU membership referendum in Hungary