Russia

Hungarians would rather be closer to the Austrians and Germans than to the Russians

Putin Orbán Russia corruption hungarian

Hungarians would turn to the Western world, while some in the governing party would turn to Russia, but all of them see Hungary’s future in NATO.

Policy Solutions survey

The majority thinks Hungary belongs in the West, but the proportion of those who would move closer to Russia has doubled compared to two years ago. Thursday’s edition of Policy Solutions looked at how the Hungarian public thinks.

In Hungary, 55 percent of those surveyed believe that the country belongs to the West and should continue to strive towards it in the future. Only 13 percent of Hungarians disagree with this, interestingly enough, among Fidesz voters this figure is 21 percent, Népszava.hu reports.

On the other hand, a quarter of Hungarians would prefer to move closer to Russia and further away from the European Union. But even so, there are still more people (45 percent) who would not like closer cooperation with Russia.

Leading power in the Central European region

The majority of Hungarians do not think that Hungary could be the leading power in the Central European region. So we should accept that we will not determine the future of the region.

The survey also looked at who Hungarians would build close relationships with. There were 17 countries to choose from, of which Hungarians would most likely build closer ties with Austria (90 percent), Germany (87 percent) and Croatia (86 percent). In contrast, China, South Korea, Ukraine and Russia ranked last.

Unsurprisingly, among Fidesz and Mi Hazánk supporters, Ukraine is the most unpopular, while Russia is the most unpopular among the opposition.

NATO or not NATO

The vast majority of those polled support Hungary remaining a member of NATO. In addition, more than two thirds agree that Finland and Sweden should also have a place in NATO.

A majority is in favour of the EU providing financial support to Ukraine, but they do not want Hungary to pay.

The US ambassador harshly attacked the Hungarian government

david pressman us ambassador

The US ambassador to Budapest has attacked the Hungarian government, criticising Fidesz’s pro-Russia stance.

US ambassador’s criticism

On Wednesday, 7 June, a reception was held to celebrate the US-Hungarian scientific cooperation and to celebrate the Space Treaty between the two countries. The event included a speech by the US Ambassador to Budapest.

“I must begin tonight by mentioning the catastrophic events unfolding in Ukraine as the people of that country continue to struggle with Russia’s war against a country with which Hungary stubbornly maintains and even strengthens its ‘interconnectedness’,” the Ambassador said.

The ambassador then explained that while Hungary is making friends with Moscow, tens of thousands of people are forced to leave their homes in Ukraine because the Russians have destroyed the reservoir in Nova Kahovka.

“A few things are clear: Russia started this war, Russia was the one who occupied this territory of Ukraine, and the dam was under the control of Russia,” portfolio.hu quotes the ambassador as saying.

“Worlds separate us from the Hungarian government”

David Pressman then turned to space exploration. “At this desperate moment, when it may seem that worlds separate us from the Hungarian government, there is another space where the United States and Hungary are making significant progress together”.

Pressman has previously criticised the Hungarian government. Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán jokingly used the ambassador’s name to say that Pressman wanted to put pressure on the Hungarian government’s policies, index.hu quoted him as saying.

Pressman also pointed out in his speech that the scientific importance of the Earth Observation programme is growing. Weather forecasting, crop forecasting, natural resource management and natural disasters are of paramount importance. “According to a recent study, Hungary lost 3 percent of its GDP last year due to crop failure caused by extreme droughts. The agricultural systems of the Carpathian Basin and the Balkans are among the most vulnerable to climate change in Europe as a whole,” said Pressman.

Hungarian FM: Europe needs strategic autonomy, advocacy

France Szijjártó

Europe needs strategic autonomy, Foreign Minister Péter Szijjártó said in Paris on Wednesday, arguing that the continent would lose out if it kept following other global political players instead of enforcing its own interests.

Szijjártó held talks with the foreign affairs and defence committee of France’s Senate, discussing primarily the war in Ukraine and its consequences, according to a ministry statement.

The war has significantly weakened Europe both politically and economically, the minister said.

“It has weakened the continent politically because the past one year, three months and two weeks has not been enough for us to move closer to peace; we haven’t been able to stop this war,” he said.

“And secondly, we’ve become weaker economically because owing to the differences between the European and American responses to the war, European businesses find themselves at a huge competitive disadvantage compared with American businesses,” he added.

Szijjártó said that whereas the US Inflation Reduction Act “shamelessly and completely openly supports American companies against European ones”, European sanctions were hurting Europe’s economy more than Russia’s.

This puts European businesses at a huge competitive disadvantage, and all of the negative effects are felt in the vicinity of the war first, he said.

“Moreover, we represent a nation whose members are dying in the war, so I told the members of the French Senate’s foreign affairs and defence committee that Hungary has an absolute interest in peace,” Szijjártó said.

“We, of course, condemn the war,” he said. “The question is not what we think of the war or its outbreak, but rather how it will end.”

“There is no resolution to this war on the battlefield, only casualties,” Szijjártó said. Every single new delivery of weapons brings more casualties, so Europe should instead concentrate on creating peace, he added.

“Of course, this approach of ours is out of line with that of the European mainstream,” Szijjártó said, adding that it also differed from France’s approach in several ways.

But what is certain is that France and Hungary agree that Europe is in need of some sort of strategic autonomy and the ability to make its own decisions and enforce its own interests, he said. Because if it constantly follows other world political players, it will lose out, he added.

Szijjártó: The global majority agrees with us

Hungary foreign minister Péter Szijjártó

Contrary to what the world’s liberal political and media sphere says, the global majority, much like Hungary, clearly wants peace in Ukraine as soon as possible, Foreign Minister Péter Szijjártó said in Budapest on Tuesday.

Europe is facing its most serious security and economic challenges since the second world war, Szijjártó told an international conference organised by Mathias Corvinus Collegium (MCC), according to a ministry statement. Moreover, the risk of escalation is greater than ever before, while Europeans are in no way responsible for the outbreak of the war, he added.

“The fact that there are European political leaders who suffer from an increasingly worsening war psychosis is another matter,” Szijjártó said. “It also must be made clear that this is not the European people’s war, but all Europeans are paying the price for it.”

He criticised the European Union’s sanctions policy and that the bloc had “allowed the United States to provoke it into a race to see who delivers more weapons to Ukraine”.

The EU has seen a steep fall in its competitiveness, and energy prices are several times higher than in the US and China, the minister said. Meanwhile, he said that while the US Inflation Reduction Act put American businesses at an advantage, “Brussels bureaucracy” was forcing decisions that hurt all European companies.

“What’s more, the war is taking place here and its impact is much stronger in Europe,” he said.

The sanctions that have been introduced have failed to bring Russia to its knees and end the fighting, he said, adding that they had hurt Europe more than they had Russia.

“One year, three months and two weeks after the start of the war, during the debate on the eleventh sanctions package, I think it is clear to everyone, that the sanctions have failed to achieve either of their two goals,” Szijjártó said.

He warned that escalation always had the most serious effect on neighbouring countries, which was why, he said, Hungary was in a particularly difficult situation, not least because Hungarians were also dying in the war.

“And we don’t want more Hungarians do die, just like we don’t want anyone of any other nationality to die in this war,” the minister said.

“That is one of the reasons why we demand an immediate ceasefire and a start to peace talks that can at least offer hope of a sustainable peace ensuring long-term security in our region,” Szijjártó added.

He said one serious consequence of the war was the re-emergence of blocs in the world, which, he said, was “completely against the interests of central Europe”. He also raised the question of where the tens of thousands of weapons delivered to Ukraine may end up in the coming years.

Szijjártó said while western Europeans wanted to “decouple” the European and Chinese economies, major business executives were constantly asking Hungary to convince Chinese companies to invest in their area.

He also emphasised that there were several places in the world where just a fraction of the weapons sent to Ukraine could lead to “serious catastrophes, security crises and instability”.

Szijjártó said the world was “bigger than Europe”, adding that the global majority wanted peace. “We therefore mustn’t believe the mainstream liberal political and media sphere of the transatlantic world, because they’re trying to convince us that the rest of the world agrees with what we in the transatlantic region say, hear or want to say and want to hear,” he added.

But he said though the pro-peace side was under “constant pressure” from those who were “pro-war”, there was not a single Foreign Affairs Council meeting where at least some of his counterparts did not ask him in private to be “tough” on his stance.

“So that’s the situation that we’re in, but this shouldn’t discourage us from looking at this whole thing from a Hungarian perspective,” Szijjártó said.

The European Union has given in to Hungary

Hungarian grain

The European Union has extended restrictions on imports of wheat, corn, rapeseed and sunflower seeds from Ukraine until September 15, the European Commission said late on Monday.

The EC restricted imports of those products in April in response to a call from Hungary, Poland, Slovakia, Bulgaria and Romania to offset the fallout from the glut of Ukrainian grain in those countries as a result of customs easements to support the war-torn country.

Under the decision, the five countries could block imports of Ukrainian agricultural products as long as they ensured transit through their territory.

The decision would have expired on June 5.

Also on Monday, the European Commission extended the trade preferences granted to Ukraine, with the suspension of import duties, quotas and trade defence measures on Ukrainian exports to the EU remaining in place for another year, napi.hu reports.

The Brussels body stressed that the European Union is also supporting Ukraine’s economy and helping to alleviate the difficult situation for Ukrainian manufacturers and exporters caused by Russia’s “unprovoked and unjustified” military aggression.

The Hungarian state does not want to give up Russian oil – here is why

MOL Hungary pipeline oil refinery bulgaria ukraine

There has been heated debate in the European Union about Hungary’s insistence to keep Russian oil coming to the country ever since the start of Russia’s war in Ukraine. The Orbán cabinet constantly tells the public that the reason is protecting Hungarian families, suggesting that without Russian oil, there would not be enough resources in the country. But is that really the truth?

According to experts asked by Index, the Hungarian government collects an excess profit tax on the margin between Russian oil and Brent oil. Thus, diversification is not important for the cabinet, as it would lose out on a lot of money. On top of that, it is also inconvenient and expensive for MOL, Hungary’s main oil and gas company, to change a “well-established strategy”.

The Czech Republic made up its mind

At the same time, while the Czech Republic is in the same exact situation geopolitically as well as regarding the country’s energy sector and energy demand as Hungary, Czechia has already taken determined steps to detach itself from Russian oil.

The Czech state-owned company Mero announced at the end of May that more than a year after the war, it was finally possible for them to divest from Russian oil. Mero is financing the expansion of the Transalpine oil pipeline, which will transport oil from the port of Trieste in Italy to central Europe, with USD 73 million. This will double the capacity of the pipeline from 2025, Index explains. Like Hungary, Czechia had also been supplied via the Druzhba pipeline: however, the EU member state has already let go of Russian gas.

Szijjártó: We want to diversify but we do not want to replace Russian gas

In a brief interview with the Russian portal Interfax, Hungarian foreign minister Péter Szijjártó said that there are no plans to replace Russian gas. Meanwhile, a day earlier, he announced that 100 million cubic meters of natural gas will arrive in Hungary from Azerbaijan, Index reports.

On 2 June, Szijjártó announced on his Facebook page that Hungary’s MVM CEEnergy and Azerbaijan’s SOCAR had signed an agreement under which 100 million cubic metres of natural gas will arrive in Hungary from Azerbaijan by the end of the year. In contrast, he told a Russian newspaper, Interfax, that Hungary does not want to stop importing Russian gas, but wants to diversify gas imports.

“We will not replace Russian supplies – neither oil nor gas. Russia is our reliable partner: Gazprom and oil producers alike. Another issue is diversification. But from our point of view, this does not mean that we want to replace one source with another. Diversification for us means that we are looking for other sources, but not with the aim of replacing Russian sources,” Szijjártó said.

Government has no intention to distance itself from the Russians, Rosatom chief visited Orbán

rosatom

Prime Minister Viktor Orbán held talks with Alexey Likhachev, the head of Russia’s energy company Rosatom, in Budapest on Monday.

The talks were attended by Foreign Minister Péter Szijjártó and Kirill Komarov, Rosatom’s first deputy director general.

The Rosatom delegation also held talks with Szijjarto, who said after their meeting that further preparations for the expansion of Hungary’s Paks nuclear plant would soon begin.

Szijjártó discusses Paks upgrade with Rosatom chief

Additional ground work will soon begin to prepare the site for the expansion of Hungary’s Paks nuclear power plant, Szijjártó said after talks with Alexey Likhachev, chief executive of Rosatom, on Monday.

Szijjártó welcomed the European Commission’s approval of the modifications to the contracts of the plant’s expansion which he said would make it possible to speed up the construction of the two new blocks with the project applying the strictest nuclear safety regulations, according to a foreign ministry statement.

The foreign minister noted that work to thoroughly prepare the site for ensuring a safe operation of the new blocks will begin in early July.

Szijjártó said both he and the Rosatom chief stated their commitment towards ensuring that the two new blocks should be put into operation at the beginning of the next decade.

“We have so far managed to achieve that no sanctions are in place on the nuclear energy sector, we, at the same time know exactly that sanctions do exist not only in written but in an unwritten form,” he said. “Several foreign actors are keen to either bloc or slow down the expansion project ” which Szijjártó said constituted “an attack against the sovereignty of a state”.

“We therefore ask, urge those international actors to stop slowing down or blocking the Paks project because those will on the one hand fail, and, on the other hand, we cannot accept their jeopardising the safety of our energy supplies,” the foreign minister said.

Szijjártó said with the completion of the Paks II project, Hungary’s nuclear energy capacity will go up from 2,000 MW to 4,400 MW, enough to meet 75 percent of domestic electricity needs, reducing Hungary’s dependence on international energy markets. He noted the project’s environmental aspect which would allow “cutting carbon dioxide emissions by 17 million tonnes per year”.

As we wrote a few days ago, PM Orbán receives Russian Order of Glory and Honour, details HERE.

VIDEO: Hungarian government no longer considers Crimea as part of Ukraine

Crimea Ukraine Hungarian government video

The Hungarian government shared a video on Youtube on 30 May promoting the importance of a ceasefire and peace as soon as possible in Ukraine. The video depicts Ukraine without Crimea, even though retaking the peninsula is one of the aims of Kyiv. Furthermore, the Orbán administration does not say how they want ceasefire and peace without further territorial losses.

The Hungarian government says in the video’s explanation that the war only brings devastation and the death of hundreds of thousands of people. They added that nobody could win. Therefore, ceasefire and peace negotiations are needed as soon as possible.

The narrator of the Hungarian government’s official pro-peace video says that tens of millions of people had to leave their homeland due to the war. Even so, the armed conflict continues and can escalate into a global war. The video talks continuously about war instead of at least mentioning that Russia attacked Ukraine, not the other way around.

“Enough of the war!”, the 29-second-long footage concludes. Therefore, it suggests a ceasefire and the beginning of peace negotiations because that is the only way to save lives. The final photo is from the papal visit in Budapest, where Pope Francis talked about the importance of peace in Ukraine.

NATO member Hungary no longer considers Crimea part of Ukraine

Interestingly, the video shows Ukraine without Crimea but with the Eastern regions occupied by the Russian invasion forces (see our featured image). Crimea has been under Russian occupation since 2014, and, officially, the European Union does not acknowledge the territorial gain of Moscow. Only countries like Afghanistan, North Korea, Sudan and Syria accept that.

The Hungarian government regularly says how important Ukraine’s territorial integrity is. PM Orbán said last December that Ukraine could only remain independent and sovereign if its territorial integrity remains. Despite that, they showed Ukraine without Crimea in their latest video, 444.hu wrote.

The Zelenskyy regime would like to get back the peninsula. Moreover, Ben Wallace, the secretary of the British defence ministry, said in an interview yesterday that he sees a realistic opportunity for Ukraine to regain Crimea. Meanwhile, Russia banned all maps depicting Crimea as part of Ukraine in January.

The government’s video suggests that Russia and the USA should negotiate peace instead of Ukraine and Russia. Orbán’s political director, Balázs Orbán (the similar name is just a coincidence, they are not related), said the current conflict is an American-Russian war. Below, you may check out the full video:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vRZ2I88tyrY

Shame: Hungary has the strongest antisemitism in Europe

antisemitism holocaust 1944

Bad news came out about Poland and Hungary’s antisemite sentiments. According to a recent survey of ten European countries, more than a third of the population in Hungary and Poland hold explicitly anti-Jewish views.

According to a survey by the Anti-Defamation League (ADL) in ten European countries, a significant percentage of the population agrees with certain anti-Semitic views and stereotypes, The Jerusalem Post reports. The ADL poll ran from November last year to January this year. It covered Belgium, the UK, France, the Netherlands, Poland, Hungary, Germany, Russia, Spain and Ukraine, rtl.hu writes.

The questions that helped determine the populations’ antisemitism

The questions covered eleven commonly held anti-Jewish views, such as the following:

  • Jews have too much power in business.
  • Jews are the cause of most wars in the world.
  • Jews are more loyal to Israel than to their homeland.

Respondents were asked to indicate their level of agreement with statements such as the above. If someone agreed to some extent with at least six of the 11 statements, they were classified as holding antisemitic views.

According to the survey, 37 percent of the population in Hungary hold anti-Semitic views.

What about the rest of the countries examined?

This figure is 35 percent in Poland, 29 percent in Ukraine, 26 percent in Russia and Spain. It is 24 percent in Belgium, 17 percent in France, 12 percent in Germany and 10 percent in the UK. According to the ADL, the Netherlands has the lowest level of antisemitism at just 8 percent.

The survey data show that while the proportion of people who hold antisemitic views is relatively high in Poland and Ukraine, around one third, the situation has improved since the last survey in 2019. Antisemitism fell from 48 to 35 percent in Poland and from 46 to 29 percent in Ukraine. In Hungary, antisemitism has fallen by a smaller amount, from 42 to 37 percent. Thus, the five-percent drop has seen Hungary jump to the top.

PM Viktor Orbán receives Russian Order of Glory and Honour

Patriarch Kirill Russia religion

The Patriarch of Moscow awarded the First Degree of the Order of Glory and Honour to Viktor Orbán. Kirill said that thanks to the Prime Minister, Hungary is making steady progress. The Patriarch stressed that Viktor Orbán pays great attention to Christian values.

Patriarch Kirill has written a letter to PM Viktor Orbán on the occasion of his 60th birthday, Index reports. According to the Moscow Patriarch, Orbán has dedicated his entire life to Hungary and has achieved countless successes in a “not easy career”.

“It is largely thanks to your persistent efforts that Hungary is making steady and uninterrupted progress on the path of social and economic development, and is implementing an independent foreign and domestic policy. It is a good feeling to see that you pay great attention to the preservation of Christian values in society and to the strengthening of the institution of family and marriage,”

Patriarch Kirill wrote. He also expressed his gratitude to Viktor Orbán for his support to the Russian Orthodox Church’s diocese in Budapest and Hungary.

“With the participation of the Hungarian government, churches are being renovated and significant projects are being implemented, which serve the spiritual enlightenment of the people, while at the same time promoting the development of friendly relations between our peoples,” the Patriarch added.

“Taking into account your outstanding contribution to the strengthening of traditional moral values in the life of European society, and in view of your personal and significant feast day, I feel it is just and worthy that you should be awarded the First Degree of the Order of Glory and Honour,” Kirill wrote, explaining the Prime Minister’s award.

Orbán: Brussels proposes that we destroy Hungarian families

orbán in the radio

Brussels is calling for austerity and proposing that Hungary “ruin its economy, people, families and pensioners”, Prime Minister Viktor Orbán said on Friday.

He said Brussels did not want Hungary to take banks’ and corporations’ extra profits away, and wanted pensioners and families to have to pay full energy prices.

“They’re asking for something that we’ve been fighting against for over 13 years,” the prime minister said, underlining that the government was “fighting this fight with the support of an overwhelming majority of Hungarians”. Support for the government on this issue “greatly transcends political affiliations”, he said.

Even a left-wing pensioner agrees that they do not want to pay HUF 180,000 (EUR 485) more a month, but that is what would happen if Hungary did what Brussels wanted, Orbán said.

Hungary must stand up for its own interests, the prime minister said. The country should accept the proposals that are good but reject everything that points towards austerity and make it clear that the drafting of the budget is a national competency, he added.

When it comes to the budget, Hungary’s only two obligations to the EU concern the budget deficit and the public debt, the prime minister said. The 2024 budget targets a public debt below 70 percent of GDP and a falling deficit, he said, adding that fiscal discipline was vital in times of war.

“If there were no war, next year’s budget would be a much happier one,” Orbán said, adding, however, that “we will protect all that is important for us in 2024 even despite the war”.

He said it was “the energy of war” that had caused inflation to rise, arguing that the war had driven up energy prices worldwide.

He noted the government’s commitment to push inflation into the single digits by the end of the year “no matter what”, adding that it expected an average inflation rate of 6 percent next year.

The prime minister said the government would not be able to promote economic growth unless inflation was reduced, expressing hope that inflation was currently below 22 percent.

If there were no war and if the European Union and the West saw reason and admitted “that we’re on the wrong path”, and if there were a ceasefire and peace talks, the economic situation would suddenly improve and inflation would fall to between 1-3 percent at a much faster pace, Orbán said.

He praised Finance Minister Mihály Varga, saying he had “got everything possible out of the budget”.

Meanwhile, Orbán said that Hungary could “sit back” if it had completed the expansion of the Paks nuclear power plant. But because of the way Brussels has been holding things up at the initiative of the left, the project is behind schedule, he added.

Orbán said the war had entered a “very brutal phase”, adding that “when leftist politicians at home say that we’re at war with Russia, they don’t know what they’re talking about, they’ve lost their minds.”

“The statement ‘we are at war with Russia’ is one that no sane person would make since the second world war,” Orbán said, referring to a recent comment by Budapest’s mayor.

He said the only morally acceptable position was to be pro-peace. “Hungary is not and will not be at war with Russia, certainly not as long as this government is in power, so it’s observing the war more calmly and has a more realistic view of it,” he added.

Orbán said everything possible needed to be done before the start of Ukraine’s counteroffensive to convince the warring sides of the need for a ceasefire and peace talks, because “otherwise we will lose a lot of lives”.

The prime minister also said that the time was close when “Europe accepts Hungary’s pro-peace position”.

He said Western leaders had “led themselves to believe that the war in Ukraine could be won through the Ukrainians fighting and the West supplying money and weapons to such an extent that it will be very difficult to come off that war path”.

“But this is not our business; we are on the correct path morally and politically,” Orbán said, adding that “in many Western states people will sooner or later enforce peace through elections and replace governments promoting war”.

The majority of Europeans do not support war, Orbán insisted, adding that “they may support Ukraine morally, since Ukraine has been attacked and Russia is the aggressor, and they want justice … but they are divided over the question of what should be done and what can be undertaken”.

“With a few exceptions everybody is against us in the European Union … they have flown at our throat,” Orbán said, adding that “it is difficult to maintain a pro-peace stance in such a circle”.

He said it was obvious that “no better results could be achieved on the frontline than what Ukraine could have achieved before the war, through negotiations”. Decision makers “are now approaching the question what purpose the war has had at all”, he added.

Answering a question on endeavours to isolate Hungary, Orbán said “if you are Hungarian you must stand your ground” because “whenever we did not fight for our position we always lost, losing our self-esteem, our confidence and feeling ashamed”.

“But now we have a national government and it will not happen … there will always be left-wing hassle, such as the dispute around Hungary’s EU presidency … but Hungary, wherever it can, must have a loyal cooperation with the other European countries, finding a balance between cooperation and national interests,” he said.

On another subject, Orbán said he had received the reelection of Recep Tayyip Erdogan as Turkiye’s president with “great relief”. He said he had “not only kept fingers crossed but prayed a lot” for his election victory. “It would have been tragedy had he not won,” he said, insisting that if Erdogan’s opponent had won, “one, two, or three million refugees … would have appeared at the Hungarian border before the end of this summer.”

Orbán also said Hungary received its Russian gas supplies through Turkiye, and that country having a “pro-American leader or one supported by George Soros” would make it “strongly doubtful if the gas could reach Hungary or Serbia”.

Erdogan’s losing the election would have “given Turkiye a pro-war president”, the prime minister said, adding that “the ramifications would be unforeseeable”. Erdogan has a chance to mediate between Ukraine and Russia, as he earlier mediated over Ukraine’s grain exports, Orbán said.

According to the prime minister, Hungary “must always watch Berlin, Moscow, and Ankara … Hungary is in that triangle and it is in that triangle where the life of Hungarians must be managed.” He said “constellations are not equally good in those three relations but all three are stable, balanced, and could bring benefits to Hungary”. He added, however, that currently relations with Germany were “the most critical”.

Hungarian opposition to file lawsuit demanding Russian gas contract details

PM Orbán and Putin Russian gas

The opposition Democratic Coalition will file a lawsuit with a view to revealing precisely how much Hungary “pays Russia for Europe’s most expensive gas”, the party’s deputy leader and MEP said on Tuesday.

Csaba Molnár, MEP from the Democratic Coalition told an online press conference that Russian President Vladimir Putin had “cheated” Prime Minister Viktor Orbán when he told a joint press conference in Moscow that Hungarians were getting Russian gas for one-fifth of the market price. Molnar added that since the government’s “seven-fold utility fee increase, we know that this is a lie” because, he insisted, Hungarians were paying the steepest price for gas in the whole of the EU.

Molnár said that at the same time it was still unknown exactly how much the government paid and the level of interest for charged for gas sold to Hungarian consumers, he said. When the party demanded data of public interest from the Hungarian energy company MVM and the Hungarian Hydrocarbon Stockpiling Association, one of them refused to make the data available and the other redacted the most important details, including the price of gas, he added.

Hungary blocks the newest EU sanctions package against Russia

Viktor Orbán sanctions package

But Hungary is not alone in that regard because Budapest won an unlikely ally in Athens. Politico wrote that the new EU sanctions against Russia are “stuck in limbo over Greek-Hungary protest.”

Five EU diplomats shared information about the latest sanctions and the Hungarian-Greek opposition to the paper. The 11th sanctions package is the first member of a new generation of sanctions. It concerns countries helping Moscow reach its war efforts in Ukraine or avoid the other ten trade sanction packages.

However, Hungary and Greece will baulk that process if Ukraine does not remove their companies from the list of war sponsors. In the case of Hungary, that is the OTP Bank, the biggest Hungarian-owned financial institution and leading bank in Central Europe. Athens and Budapest will use the new sanctions package as political leverage “to get their companies off Ukraine’s list.”

That is why the German foreign minister, Annalena Baerbock criticised her Hungarian counterpart in a summit of foreign ministers this week in Brussels. She said OTP Bank supported Putin’s war efforts by, e.g. giving loans to the soldiers. The German FM cited unspecified reports, but Péter Szijjártó, Hungary’s foreign minister, rejected the claims by quoting an OTP announcement. We wrote about that clash in THIS article. At a Wednesday meeting of EU ambassadors, however, Greece was at the forefront of resistance.

“Greece reiterated that should there be concrete evidence of violation of sanctions, these should be brought to the attention of the member states concerned, at the technical level, so that this be adequately investigated and then due action will be taken”, Politico cited an EU diplomat. Joseph Borell promised to work through the problems concerning the Ukrainian list.

EU diplomats said EU member states are frustrated with Hungary’s pro-Russia and pro-China stance. Hungary does not only baulk the 11th sanctions package. It also blocks the eighth money reimbursement of the EU for Kyiv until the OTP issue is not solved. We wrote about that HERE.

EU diplomats cleared other issues needed to be solved concerning the 11th sanctions package. However, they do not start negotiations about them until Hungary and Greece veto. For example, Germany worries that naming and shaming other countries can hurt diplomatic relations.

Zelenskyy wanted to ruin Hungary?

Zelensky Ukraine Orbán

Hungary wants Brussels to give a clear and forthcoming answer concerning “Ukraine’s latest serious blackmail against Hungary”, Fidesz MEP Tamás Deutsch said on Saturday.

Referring to reports of an alleged plan to blow up the Druzhba pipeline carrying Russian oil to Hungary, the head of the ruling party’s EP delegation said in a video statement that the “serious and outrageous case of extortion” must be clarified, adding that his group of MEPs had turned to the European Commission with written questions.

Deutsch referred to an alleged meeting in February in which Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy may have suggested blowing up the pipeline as well as a message sent by the chief executive of Ukrtransnafta, the company that manages oil transportation operations through the Ukrainian pipeline network, setting Hungary conditions for keeping oil flowing through the pipeline. He also said he had received a message from “the Brussels bureaucracy” that the transit of crude oil to Hungary could well be stopped.

He noted that the pipeline is key to the oil supply of central Europe and Hungary. The Fidesz MEP said Brussels had remained “silent on the matter”, adding that it was insupportable that no answer had been forthcoming about whether “the direct collaborators of European Commission leaders” had actually proposed to the Ukrainians the “grave act of threatening Hungary’s sovereignty” in order to exert political pressure.

András Rácz, a Hungarian Russia expert, said it is not surprising that a tired and overworked Zelenskyy makes drastic comments to one of his ministers. Even though some leaders of the USA and Moscow talked about using nuclear weapons in Vietnam and Afghanistan, nothing happened. However, the Ukrainian president’s statements might be useful for the Russians if something happens with the Druzhba pipeline close to the Russian-Ukrainian border. He added Hungary should start detaching of the Russian oil delivery system because it has uncertainties, hvg.hu wrote.

Expert: Fuel prices will increase significantly in Hungary after hurtful deal

MOL fuel shortage Hungary

József Balogh, a Hungarian energy expert, said that the MOL Group signed a disadvantageous oil delivery agreement out of necessity. However, the result will be higher fuel prices soon.

According to index.hu, the Janaf Croatian crude oil pipeline operator and the Hungarian gas and oil giant, MOL, signed an agreement about the shipment of 2.9 million tonnes of crude oil. Mr Balogh believes MOL did not have a choice but to accept the new deal. But it is very disadvantageous for the company.

The Hungarian company will pay several times any reasonable current market benchmark for the Croatian firm. Balogh told ATV that the agreement was much more important for the Hungarians than for the Croatians. That is why the price had to be accepted.

Fuel prices will soar again

MOL has to produce fuels from non-Russian crude oil in their Bratislava refinery in Slovakia due to EU sanctions. That is how they can satisfy needs in the nearby markets. However, non-Russian oil can be delivered only through the Adriatic Sea and via a pipeline running through Croatia. That is the Hungarian company’s only alternative. The other reason is that it is one of the strategic aims of MOL to diversify its supply since the Druzhba pipeline crosses Ukraine, and a possible sabotage or attack is always imaginable. That is what Ukrainian President Volodimir Zelenskyy suggested.

Eszter Bujdos, the CEO of holtankoljak.hu, thinks that the unfavourable deal will cause increasing fuel prices in Hungary. We do not see MOL’s expenditure structure or how the changing cost of the raw material modified, she added. “But such a high fee will raise prices”, Mrs Bujdos highlighted.

Index did not share the price MOL will pay for the Croatian crude. Reuters wrote MOL and Janaf did not disclose the transit fees. The news outlet added “Janaf and MOL have been in drawn-out talks over transit fees. MOL’s chairman said last month that the Croatian company wanted to raise fees on the Adriatic pipeline to four times the benchmark fee charged on the Baku Tbilisi Ceyhan (BTC) Pipeline.”

The view from MOL’s new skyscraper headquarters in Budapest:

Hungarian President in NY: Russia crossed the Rubicon

Hungarian President Russia

President Katalin Novák in New York on Thursday told Hungarian public media that a “fair, long-term sustainable peace agreement is the road to peace”.

Rather than fueling the war in Ukraine “we must calm tensions and sentiments”, she said. The president noted to M1 that more than a year has passed since Russia attacked Ukraine and an end to the war was not yet in sight. She said it was unknown how many more lives the “cruel war” would claim on both sides. International public opinion on the war, she said, was shifting. So was the mood on the warring sides, she argued. President Volodymyr Zelensky, she noted, remotely attended a meeting in Reykjavík and “talked about the need for peace”, though expelling Russians from Ukrainian soil was Ukraine’s precondition.

“More and more people are articulating the importance of peace,” she added. The president said Russia should not be allowed to meet its war objectives given its “unacceptable and inexplicable” attack on a neighboring sovereign state. She said Russia must be told clearly that “the Rubicon has been crossed” and conflicts cannot be solved through conflict in this day and age. “That’s why … a fair, long-term sustainable peace agreement is the road to peace.” She noted that the UN, EU and the Council of Europe were established as peace missions after the second world war to prevent any world war in the future.

For peace and families in the United Nations – Katalin Novák posted:

“We may well be on the brink of a world war,” she said. Through these organisations, “we have a common obligation to seek a path to peace,” she said. Pope Francis’s visit to Hungary confirmed that many were trying to find a path to peace. “We Hungarians [and] leaders of Hungary … are also seeking a path to peace,” she added. President Novák warned against intensifying “the rhetoric of war” and “fueling the war”.

She noted that Hungary, an independent and sovereign country, works as a part of a system of alliances. The country has its own firm ideas for the future, she said. “This could well be why many find us an exciting and interesting negotiating partner,” she added. Novák said it was important to show the world what Hungary truly stands for and to foster a realistic image of Hungarians. “I’ve been doing this for the past year.” She noted that a Demographic Summit will be held in Hungary again in September, and next year she would host the world’s female heads of state in Budapest.

Also, Novák said she is soon to pay a visit to Albania, and she would promote the EU accession of Western Balkan countries. Further, Romanian President Klaus Iohannis will soon visit Budapest for an official visit, she noted.

Hungary vetoes another important anti-Russia EU measure

Viktor Orbán Hungary

The European Union would like to sanction Russian justice officials and national security agents involved in jailing and poisoning Vladimir Kara-Murza, a well-known Russian opposition journalist and public figure. But Hungary vetoed that decision. Here is why.

According to index.hu, the Hungarian veto came at the last moment and out of the blue, but it is connected with a recent Ukrainian decision putting Hungary’s OTP Bank among the war sponsors. Mr Kara-Murza was sentenced to 25 years in jail because of high treason. He lobbied for anti-Russia sanctions and fought against President Putin because he believes the Russian government harmed human rights multiple times.

EUobserver wrote that the ambassadors of the EU almost agreed on sanctions against officials and agents concerned with Kara-Murza’s jail sentence and attempted poisoning, but Hungary intervened. Therefore, the EU foreign ministers will not accept the list of Russian officials. According to the EUobserver, Hungary vetoed at least one person.

Here is what Hungary probably wants in return for the latest anti-Russia sanction

EU diplomats said Hungary wanted Ukraine to cross the Hungarian OTP Bank from the list of war sponsors because that harms the bank’s international reputation. The paper said even Hungarian opposition politicians do not understand why the cabinet this enthusiastically defends the bank. OTP said they did not ask for help from the government.

We wrote HERE that the Hungarian government blocked the disbursement of the eighth instalment of the European Peace Facility (EPF) for arms to Ukraine. That means Kyiv will not get an additional EUR 500M for weapons due to be paid on 22 May.

Russia’s influence growing in Hungary?

PM Orbán and Putin Russian gas

Opposition LMP considers “Russia’s growing influence” in Hungary to be “increasingly risky”, and has made proposals for Foreign Minister Péter Szijjártó, Örs Tetlák, a member of the party’s board, said on Friday.

Speaking at a press conference on Friday, Tetlák said that since 2010, Hungary had become one of the most important European allies of Putin’s Russia. Since the start of the war in Ukraine, the government has even strengthened those ties, rather than loosening them, he insisted. Tetlák slammed ruling Fidesz for “vetoing sanctions on KGB agents”, destroyed cooperation with other countries of the Visegrád partnership, and supports Putin’s war by buying expensive and risky Russian energy.

He said Russian influence had reached such proportions that when the operation of the International Investment Bank was threatened, another covert organisation appeared immediately. Russian oligarchs also consider Hungary a safe place, Tetlák added. They set up companies here, with some of them barely concealing a Russian secret service connection. Yet, the government will not order an investigation, instead, it vetoes EU support for Ukraine “in a kind of cheap political blackmail”.

LMP proposes that the foreign minister should request from President Katalin Novák the documents that she received from the Polish president on how other countries have replaced Russian energy with alternative sources.