Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban has accused the European Union of “ideological warfare” and blackmail over an alleged plan to retaliate for Budapest’s blockade of European bloc aid to Ukraine.
“Brussels (European Union) has been waging an ideological war against Hungary for several years and continues to blackmail it. Now we have documents confirming this,” Orban said on the Facebook digital platform.
The prime minister is referring to a document about the European Union’s alleged plan to sabotage the Hungarian economy if Orban vetoes aid to Ukraine at the bloc’s next summit, scheduled for Thursday.
A document published by the British newspaper Financial Times reveals a secret plan by Brussels to allegedly cut off all funding to Budapest in order to cause a collapse in investor confidence.
Now Orban claims that if implemented, the plan could turn into “Armageddon”, and promises to act.
“We will defend the interests of Hungary. We cannot allow ourselves to be blackmailed,” the Hungarian prime minister emphasized in the same text.
Brussels has already stated that the document referred to by the newspaper is an “explanatory note” prepared by the General Secretariat of the Council of the European Union (EU), which describes the current situation in the Hungarian economy.
The EU added that this is a factual document that does not reflect the state of negotiations on the revision of the bloc’s multiannual financial framework (MFF) and does not set out a specific plan for assistance to Ukraine or Hungary.
At an EU summit last month, Orban blocked the release of 50 billion euros in the budget for financial aid to Ukraine.
Orban was against EU countries taking out a joint loan to finance Ukraine and that it also came from the budget of the European bloc.
Recently, the Hungarian government, having accepted these conditions, proposed to provide support in annual payments, which would be negotiated every year.
This decision did not convince EU partners, who fear that Budapest will use this circumstance to blackmail the EU, reports the portal of the Hungarian digital newspaper Hvg.
The European Commission blocked the payment of some €22 billion in regional funds to Hungary for non-compliance with the European Charter of Fundamental Rights, but in December 2023 it released €10.2 billion of those funds in response to legislative changes.
Author: Lusa
Source: CM Jornal
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