Hungary on Tuesday blocked a massive EU aid package for Ukraine worth 18 billion euros ($18.9 billion), angering other members of the bloc.
Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban said that Budapest is not against sending aid to Ukraine but objects to how the EU wants to do it. The 18 billion euro plan would require all 27 EU members to jointly borrow the funds, something Hungary has previously said it’s against.
The 18 billion euro aid package for Ukraine is meant to help cover Ukraine’s massive $38 billion budget deficit for 2023. The US is expected to put up a similar amount for the deficit, and the $37.7 billion in new Ukraine aid the White House seeks from Congress includes $14.5 billion in budgetary aid.
Orban said that Hungary is ready to “give financial assistance to Ukraine, on a bilateral basis,” but said the EU’s proposal is not the solution. “If we continue to go down the road towards a debt community, we will not be able to turn back,” he said.
Hungary is already at odds with Brussels and risks losing billions in EU funding over allegations of corruption that have been leveled since Orban won reelection in April. According to The Associated Press, the EU’s European Commission has proposed suspending 7.5 billion euros in funding for Hungary over claims of mismanagement of EU money and “democratic backsliding.”
Kudos for Orban, the man has integrity, he cares about his nation.
Orban have extensive experience in dealing with Soros mafia but I’m still worried they may try to assassinate him.
And he’s had extensive experience dealing with the Washington, NATO, and EU mafias and proved man enough to oppose them in the interest of Hungary necessitated. He has no peer among the “civilized community” anyway you cut it.
That is all possible, even more kudos for him. He is being demonized in the press but the people reelected him and no-one questions his election.
i’m sure that orban has his own team of anti-assassins just like all the rest of them must
Sure, if you like leaders who line the pockets of his friends and family, and win because of extreme gerrymandering.
But the American alt-right loves him so I’m sure that’s a great sign, right ?!
So much for that ‘European unity’ Ursla Wonder Lying have been squealing about.
Thinking of what a difference language makes. “aid” always sounds good. How about this instead:
Hungary blocks more EU money to Ukraine
Or this:
Hungary blocks funding to Zelensky’s war
That last one is how the media write about Russia, always writing “Putin” because it’s easier to make the viewers hate a person than a country. It’s “Putin’s airbases” that were hit, according to The Guardian. Another example of what a difference language makes.
Best headline:
Hungary opposes funding Kiev’s invasion of Donbass with even more of EU taxpayers’ money
As Zelensky himself said back in March, this war has been going on for eight years. Meaning it’s the war where Ukraine bombs Donbass, and where Zelensky amassed an invasion army that was stopped by Russia. So this headline would be entirely correct.
ok that was well put
I will admit to knowing little about Orban. But is an EU leader at long last beginning to display common sense?
The EU has been blocking aid to Hungary. It is a longstanding fight with Orban over “democracy.”
Now they hear, “If I don’t get mine, you can’t send even more to them.”
I doubt Orban is doing this because of Ukraine, but rather because it is a pressure point for his other purposes.
Orban is accountable to people who elected him not to Biden/Zelensky.
The EU is a shame, the EU and NATO WILL NOT SURVIVE this cluster f***k and that is good so, on orders from Washington they jumped on each others throats. With a few exception their governments are shameless and corrupt people, nothing else can explain so much cowardice and stupidity. And when has an ally ever declared war on its own allies as Biden did when he authorized the blowup of the pipelines?
That really happened, it is not just a bad dream, it happened.
He knows that “democracy” business is nothing but BS. He was re-elected, no one questions his election either.
Untrue.
“Orbán’s Fidesz party took a more proportional voting system and made it more majoritarian. In reducing the size of the legislature, Fidesz also increased the share of parliamentary seats chosen through “single-member districts.” Second, Fidesz gerrymandered the new single-member districts, echoing recent efforts in the U.S. (by both parties but predominantly Republicans). In 2014, for example, gerrymandering enabled Fidesz to win 88% of single-member district seats with just 45% of the relevant vote. Third, Fidesz abolished runoff elections, allowing candidates to win with only a plurality rather than a majority of the vote — the same way most federal general elections in the U.S. work too.”
https://www.chicagotribune.com/opinion/commentary/ct-opinion-viktor-orban-turkey-authoritarian-power-us-electoral-system-20220803-erhu6pjlijgafcxj3wk5um32te-story.html