Wealthiest Hungarian, university professor: Huxit possible, we have 5-10 years

Thomas Peterffy is the 58th wealthiest man in the world. According to him, sooner or later, Hungary will leave the European Union if there is no conservative change in Brussels. University teacher András Hettyey added he did not expect a Huxit in the short term, but in the long run, in 5-10 years, that may become a possible option.

Clashes between the EU’s leadership (the so-called “Brussels bureaucrats”, as the government likes to call them) and the Hungarian government started shortly after PM Viktor Orbán came to power and won a supermajority in 2010. The turning point was the 2015 migration crisis when Orbán and the rest of the European leaders took up an antagonistically different stance concerning illegal migration.

The Hungarian government wanted to keep illegal migrants away from the EU, while Austria, Germany and several other countries welcomed them. Since then, ties have been deteriorating. After the COVID pandemic, Brussels did not give any development or RRF funds to Hungary because of the rule of law, state of media, and jurisdiction concerns. The Hungarian government communicated that the Brussels bureaucrats withheld the money only because they disagreed with the Christian-patriotic views Orbán and his cabinet followed.

The possibility of a Huxit, Hungary’s departure from the European Union, has become an integral part of the Hungarian political discourse.

The West dislikes Orbán’s meetings with Putin and Xi Jinping and believes that Orbán has become a traitor to the EU and NATO. According to Thomas Peterffy, the wealthiest Hungarian who revolutionised trade on the stock exchanges, more people in the West are concerned that when Hungary becomes a net contributor, it will leave the EU.