Wednesday, Dec 7, 2022
Hungarian Prime Minister, Viktor Orbán (Right) and Slovakia’s Prime Minister Eduard Heger
On Tuesday, 6th December, the Economy Ministers of EU countries decided to block disbursement of the EU funds to Hungary till the 27- reforms, suggested by the EU Executive, were implemented. Hungary then blocked the EU’s Ukraine aid plan and implementation of minimum global corporate tax rate by using its veto.
As a result, if the other EU countries want to send financial aid to Ukraine, they will have to send the funds from their individual national budgets. This may require approval by each of the Parliaments of the countries and it may take time.
Earlier, on Friday 2nd December 2022, the PM of Hungary said that, for political reasons, EU was freezing EU funds, that should have been given to Hungary.
On Wednesday, 1st December 2022, EU Executive, in principle, approved grant of Euro 5.8 billion for Hungary’s Covid recovery plan. But it wanted Hungry to implement 27 reforms, including strengthening judiciary independence and anti-corruption reforms, before disbursing the grant.
The EU Executive also suspended Euro 7.5 billion in development funding for Hungary.
Tibor Navracsics, Hungary’s Minister for Regional Development, said that Hungary will put in place the additional measures so that the funds can be paid to Hungary.
Hungary is facing high inflation and needs the funds desperately for its normal working. The Finance Minister of Hungary, Mihály Varga, said that it was setting a bad precedent that disbursement of approved funds was being linked with extraneous things.
Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán is not a leader, who is appreciated by other EU leaders. Viktor Orban has been accused of being soft on Vladimir Putin, since he had criticized EU sanctions against Moscow for its invasion of Ukraine.
He was considered to be close to Putin since he had signed a new gas deal with Russia.
At a football match between Hungary and Greece in Budapest, on Sunday, 20th November 2022, he wore a scarf, which showed the map of greater Hungary, which includes today’s Austria, Croatia, Romania, Serbia, Slovakia, and Ukraine. But the Hungarian PM is not apologetic about it. In his defense, he said that Football is not politics. He added,” The Hungarian national team is the team of all Hungarians, wherever they live.”
Romanian Foreign Ministry criticized Orban for wearing the scarf.
The Ukrainian Foreign Ministry has announced that Ukraine would summon the Hungarian ambassador and he would be made aware of the unacceptability of Orban’s use of the scarf.
On 24th November 2022, at a summit for the Visegrad* (V4) group leaders in Slovakia, Slovakia’s Prime Minister Eduard Heger chose to present a new scarf to Viktor Orbán.
A Brief Note about History: Hungary lost the territories in 1920 at the Treaty of Trianon after the end of World War 1. A large number of Hungarians think of the loss of 2/3rd of the Austro-Hungarian empire in 1920 as a national tragedy.
* Visegrad group (V4) is a cultural and political alliance of four Central European countries: the Czech Republic, Hungary, Poland, and Slovakia. The four are also members of the European Union (EU) and the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO). V4 is also known as the European Quartet.