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Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orb\u00e1n launched a new scathing attack against the majority of EU leaders over the plans to counter Russian incursions into member states\u2019 airspaces, as discussed at the EU summit in Copenhagen on Wednesday.<\/p>\n
On his arrival at the European Political Community gathering in Copenhagen on Thursday, Orb\u00e1n announced that \u201cthe EU has decided to go to war\u201d and that at Wednesday\u2019s informal EU summit, they presented their war strategy on how to defeat the Russians, which he labelled as \u201chorrifying\u201d.<\/p>\n
He referred to the EU leaders\u2019 decision to give “broad support” to proposals to ramp up the development of drone and anti-drone technology and to use immobilised Russian assets to loan money to Ukraine.<\/p>\n
“Leaders broadly supported initial priority flagship projects that will strengthen Europe’s security, including the European drone wall and the Eastern Flank Watch,” European Council President Antonio Costa told reporters at the end of the informal gathering in the Danish capital.<\/p>\n
According to Orb\u00e1n, this direction is detrimental to Hungary and the entire European Union. The prime minister announced that the governing party will launch a petition against what he called “the EU’s war plans.” <\/p>\n
“The pressure is great. So I will suggest to the Fidesz presidency that we start a signature campaign in Hungary against the EU’s war plans. Because we need all our strength to stay out of this war,” Orb\u00e1n said. <\/p>\n
Orban says ‘the Costa plan is dead’<\/p>\n
The Hungarian prime minister also discussed how he rejected the idea floated at the summit to amend the EU’s enlargement rules to facilitate Ukraine’s accession talks. <\/p>\n
The so-called Costa plan suggested lifting the unanimity required for the opening of each negotiating chapter. <\/p>\n
Changing the rules also requires unanimity, and Hungary will veto Ukraine\u2019s EU accession, according to Orb\u00e1n. <\/p>\n
“I told them, I do not agree, so this plan is dead,” Orb\u00e1n said. <\/p>\n
The Hungarian premier also repeated his position that, instead of a full EU membership, Ukraine should get a strategic partnership with the EU, which he called \u201ca better idea\u201d. The full membership would mean, in his view, that “the war would enter the European Union.” <\/p>\n
Orb\u00e1n has been opposing Ukraine’s membership and the financial support for Ukraine for years, blocking many supporting decisions in Brussels, while relenting to EU pressure and agreeing to the multiple EU sanctions packages against Russia.<\/p>\n
The Hungarian government conducted an anti-Ukraine campaign earlier this year, featuring billboards that portrayed Volodymyr Zelenskyy alongside opposition leader P\u00e9ter Magyar. <\/p>\n
The government also launched a poll on Ukraine’s EU bid, in which, according to the government, 95% of respondents were against Ukraine joining the 27-member bloc. <\/p>\n
Budapest mayor calls Orb\u00e1n’s anti-Ukraine campaign in Hungary ‘shameful’<\/p>\n
Meanwhile, Budapest’s green party mayor and top Orban opponent, Gergely Kar\u00e1csony, told Euronews on Wednesday that Ukraine’s EU accession is a clear national interest of Hungary. <\/p>\n
Kar\u00e1csony said government propaganda has turned against Ukraine and its EU ambitions because \u201cthey ran out of imaginary enemies\u201d. <\/p>\n
It would be in Hungary’s national interest to support Ukraine’s accession to the EU, even if reconstruction would take vast amounts of money from the EU budget, the mayor told Euronews.<\/p>\n
“The Transcarpathian Hungarians are unanimous in their demand that the Hungarian government should support Ukraine’s EU membership,” Kar\u00e1csony said. <\/p>\n
“This is a huge opportunity for the European economy, because the EU could expand with a member state that represents a large market and great resources.” <\/p>\n
“But unfortunately, we are not there yet. Obviously, we have to get to the end of the war, to the ceasefire,” he pointed out.<\/p>\n
“And membership of the European Union is not tomorrow, but I believe that Hungary’s support for Ukraine’s accession is in our overriding national interest. I don’t see any argument against that,” Kar\u00e1csony concluded.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"ADVERTISEMENT Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orb\u00e1n launched a new scathing attack against the majority of EU leaders over…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":468306,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5174],"tags":[2000,299,5187,1699,1781,335],"class_list":{"0":"post-468305","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-eu","8":"tag-eu","9":"tag-europe","10":"tag-european","11":"tag-european-union","12":"tag-viktor-orban","13":"tag-war-in-ukraine"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@uk\/115304340525352575","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/468305","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=468305"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/468305\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/468306"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=468305"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=468305"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=468305"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}