The EU’s capitulation to the Hungarian PM’s blackmail is a grave mistake. He seeks to reshape the bloc in his image
The decision by European leaders to open formal EU membership negotiations with Ukraine is historic – it offers hope to a people who are courageously fighting Russian aggression and sacrificing their lives for a European future. The agreement marks a historic new chapter for the EU. But legally, it required the unanimity of all 27 leaders, and it only became possible because Hungary’s prime minister, Viktor Orbán – who had threatened to block the opening of talks with Ukraine – left the room, in effect abstaining rather than wielding his veto.
The fact that 26 EU leaders, including Orbán’s supposed allies, signed up despite his opposition underscores the importance of this historic step. Yet it is tainted by the questionable means through which the agreement was achieved.
In a highly dubious deal that emerged in the run-up to the summit, the European Commission had unblocked €10.2bn, a third of an overall sum for Hungary frozen as punishment for Orbán’s dismantling of the rule of law. The Hungarian government made token reforms to restore judicial independence, but they fall far short of what is needed.
The standard of living in Hungary has been constantly declining since orbán has been in power. His voter base is still going strong nonetheless, especially among the poorest. These people have no future, but also no present either - they’ll vote for the name they hear the most often, or the one their employer tells them to. They being mostly jobless, that employer being the village mayor via the public works programme, and usually a puppet of orbán as well. Checkmate, liberal democracy.
There’s a difference between a consistent gradual decline, and rapidly plummeting to a Belarusian standard of living - which would be a likely prerequisite for even the chance that a weakened Hungary could ever become a vassal state of Putin’s Russia.