On 18 November, Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán said at the 30th party congress that Hungary should change the EU rather than withdraw from it, but this is only possible if there is a radical change in Brussels.
Hungary’s longest-serving prime minister was president of Fidesz from 1993 to 2000, and has been its leader again since 2003. He added:
If things continue like this, the bloc would not explode, fall apart or collapse, but simply slide apart.
According to Orbán, the European Commission and the European Parliament are “shamelessly circumventing their own rules”. Hungarians have developed their own “European counter-model” based on the principles of zero migration, a labour-based economy, full employment, strong families, low taxes and a “smart green transition”, he argued. Orbán added:
We will resist the crazy ideas of Brussels bureaucrats, the migrants’ invasion, the gender propaganda, and we will resist the illusions over the war (in Ukraine) and Ukraine’s unprepared EU membership.
Orbán’s speech at the congress kicked off the EP and local government elections to be held in 2024. He has high hopes that radical right-wing parties will make a breakthrough next summer, which could weaken his isolation in society.
At a speech to Congress, the prime minister said his government intends to oppose talks scheduled for mid-December on formally inviting Ukraine to begin accession talks. Orbán said opposing Ukraine’s accession to the EU would be one of his government’s top priorities in the coming months. He said:
Our task will be to correct the mistaken promise to start negotiations with Ukraine, since Ukraine is now light years away from the European Union.
Earlier this week, Hungary’s leader said that the bloc’s strategy to send money and military aid to Ukraine had failed.
Hungary has blocked amendments to the EU budget needed to increase funding for Ukraine on the grounds that the country violates the rights of ethnic Hungarians in western Ukraine to be educated in their native language.
Since amending EU budget rules and starting accession talks also requires unanimous approval from member states, this gives Hungary’s nationalist leader a powerful veto power. However, the EU can circumvent the veto by concluding bilateral agreements with member states on Ukraine, but that will not fix Orban’s policies, analysts said.
