Hungary’s parliament speaker has accused the European Union of waging a “hybrid war” against his country, saying the organization is withholding funds owed to Budapest as a means of political control.
Speaking to the Mandiner magazine on Wednesday, National Assembly speaker Laszlo Kover agreed that Hungary’s relations with the EU had reached a “low point,” amid a row over some €28 billion ($30 billion) in funds earmarked for Budapest and currently frozen by the bloc until it implements various legal reforms.
“They want to interfere in the political process by withholding resources, and they would even expect us to be ashamed of it,” he continued. “It is a hybrid war – to use this fashionable term – that the globalists in Brussels are waging against Hungary and Poland, which are defending their sovereignty.”
The politician went on to describe efforts within the EU to “create an economic governance that dissolves the sovereignty of the member states,” noting that practices such as joint borrowing and the single currency would further erode national independence.
“Europe is almost paralyzed by the fact that the institutional system originally created to ensure cooperation has turned against its masters, the member states, as a kind of golem. Today, the member states cannot control this cancerous bureaucracy,” he said.
We have to ask ourselves whether the European Union is still an association of independent and equal member states, or whether we are just one step away from becoming victims of another imperial expansion.
While Kover said the European bloc remains “the best enforcement framework for Hungarian national interests,” he insisted the organization must meet its obligations to members, suggesting it has not done so in Hungary’s case.
In order to unlock the frozen funds, Budapest is expected to meet 27 so-called “super milestones” proposed by the European Commission, including judicial and media reforms, as well as a crackdown on corruption. The bloc has long accused Hungary of not abiding by the EU standards of the rule of law. Budapest, meanwhile, insists that the allegations are entirely politically motivated.
Hungary has also largely resisted pressure to follow a US-led sanctions campaign against Russia over its military operation in Ukraine, opting to retain its more friendly ties with Moscow. It has also refused to supply military aid to Kiev, even vetoing weapons packages proposed by the bloc, while Prime Minister Viktor Orban has pushed for talks between the warring parties to bring an end to the fighting.