Opposition parties criticise government’s foreign policy

While Prime Minister Viktor Orbán “is working on disrupting the unity of the European Union”, he is “putting a lot of effort” into getting into the “club of dictators”, the opposition Socialists said in reaction to Orbán’s talks with Egyptian President Abdul Fattah al-Sisi in Budapest on Monday.

Socialists

A look at the slate of world leaders Orbán has “cozied up to” over the past few months will “tell us where Hungary is heading,” Socialist Party leader Gyula Molnár said. After Russian and Turkish presidents Vladimir Putin and Recep Tayyip Erdogan, Orbán has now “met the leader of a military state” while Foreign Minister Péter Szijjártó recently paid visits to Uzbekistan, Tajikistan and Kazakhstan, he said.

Molnár said it was a “serious political and historical error” to say that these states “should be seen by Hungary as examples to be followed”.

The policy of opening up to the East can be an important economic policy, but politically it cannot be an alternative to Europe in any way, the party leader insisted. The Socialist Party cannot accept a foreign policy stance that is “at war with the European Union”, he added. The Socialists were the ones to “take Hungary into the EU” in 2004 and they “will be the ones to keep it there” after 2018, Molnár said.

On the subject of Jobbik party’s announcement that it would initiate an impeachment procedure against President János Áder, Molnár said he had asked his party’s parliamentary group to support the motion.

Jobbik said late last week that Áder’s decision to sign the law on billboard advertising was unworthy of the head of state.

Molnár also said Áder was unworthy of his office but criticised Jobbik for only deciding to initiate an impeachment procedure once its own political interests had been hurt.

LMP

Green LMP said it considered the government’s “hosting military dictators and those trampling on human rights” instead of working to strengthen the EU’s joint foreign policy “harmful” for Hungary.

Not only did Orban’s meeting with al-Sisi show how “unprincipled Hungary’s foreign policy is”, but visits like those of the Egyptian president are “lame things” as a result of which Hungary will have a hard time generating funds, LMP national board member Péter Ungár said.

Ungár asked how the upcoming visit of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu could be aligned with Hungary’s “eclectic” foreign policy which recently included Hungary signing a nuclear cooperation deal with Iran, a visit by the prime minister to Turkey and most recently a visit by the Egyptian president.

On the subject of Jobbik’s motion for impeachment against Áder, Ungár said LMP’s parliamentary group had yet to be contacted by Jobbik on the matter. Once they do reach out to LMP, the party’s board will decide whether or not the group should support the motion, he said.

Photo: MTI

Source: MTI