The soap opera revolving around the struggle between Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán and the European Union doesn’t seem to be winding down any time soon.
Orbán is constantly defying EU directives and insists on operating primarily following his own national interests – which infuriates Globalists of all stripes in Brussels.
Read: Hungary’s Orbán Calls the European Union a ‘Bad Contemporary Parody’ of the Soviet Union
Orbán caused major waves at the last EU summit when he, on one hand, unblocked accession negotiations after he was persuaded by German Chancellor Olaf Scholz to leave the room ‘for a coffee’ – but on the other hand, just a few hours later he spoiled Kiev’s party by vetoing the €50bn, four-year financial aid package.
This so infuriated EU officials and other heads of state, that it is now aired that it is being considered suspending Hungary’s voting rights.
While this ‘nuclear option’ seems extreme, utilizing Article 7 of the Treaty on the European Union, appears to be indeed under consideration.
A member state can be deprived of its voting rights ‘in the event of a violation of the rule of law’.
Many member countries are nevertheless reportedly uneasy about using that measure.
Financial Times reported:
“Leaders of EU countries have been left brainstorming ways to stop Viktor Orbán from blunting Brussels’ support for Kyiv, officials and diplomats said, after the Hungarian leader’s intransigence over Ukraine aid marked a new low in his relations with the bloc.”
After 13 years in power, Orbán has developed an antagonistic relationship with the EU, that he called ‘a parody of the Soviet Union’.
“In 2019, Orbán launched a billboard campaign against the EU, depicting then-European Commission president Jean-Claude Juncker as a puppet of Hungary-born billionaire philanthropist George Soros. With European parliament elections to be held in June, similar posters have reappeared recently on the streets of Budapest featuring Ursula von der Leyen, Juncker’s successor, with Alex Soros, the philanthropist’s son.
The day before EU summit in Brussels, €10bn of the frozen funds to Hungary were released, following reforms strengthening judicial independence.
“Orbán and his allies had repeatedly said his opposition to helping Ukraine was not linked to Hungary’s EU funding. But as the summit drew to a close on Friday, he finally named his price: payment of the remaining €20bn in funds.
‘This is a great opportunity for Hungary to make it clear that it should get what it deserves’, Orbán told Hungarian public radio. ‘Not half or a quarter, but the whole thing. We demand fair treatment, and now we have a good chance to achieve this’.”
So at this juncture, information is coming out regarding using the ‘Nuclear option’ of Article 7 to unblock Ukrainian aid.
“Some officials have considered reactivating the so-called Article 7 punishment procedure for rule of law breaches, which can result in the suspension of voting rights. It can be blocked by another member state, but a change of government in Poland means Hungary no longer has a guaranteed protector. Still, multiple countries are nervous about using what is essentially the EU’s biggest weapon against a member state.”
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