Hungary’s Prime Minister Viktor Orbán claimed on Thursday that the European Commission was blackmailing his country by withholding billions in frozen funds over rule of law concerns.
“In our view, Hungary fulfils all the qualities of the rule of law, and when the European Commission has specific needs, we implement everything from them, and we are also cooperative. You cannot blame me for doing everything I can to promote Hungary’s interests in such a blackmailed situation.”
The Hungarian government continues its long-running dispute with Brussels, which has frozen billions in EU funds. Last week, the European Commission released 10.2 billion euros of frozen EU cohesion funds reserved for Hungary.
The Commission claimed that the release timing was coincidental. Yet it came just a day before the European Council meeting where Orbán threatened to obstruct the start of negotiations on Ukraine’s accession to the EU and on a further aid package for Kyiv.
At the same time, many EU politicians have warned Brussels not to give in to what they see as blackmail by the Hungarian leader.
However, Orbán allowed EU leaders to approve the start of talks on Ukraine’s accession to the bloc, while still blocking a €50-billion aid package for Kyiv that the leaders are set to discuss early next year.
