Hungarian analyst calls EU policy toward Ukraine blind idealism

The European Union's (EU) foreign policy towards Ukraine and Russia is blind idealism, while Hungary is the only EU member state that gives a realistic assessment of the Ukrainian conflict. Zoltan Koskovic, an analyst at the Hungarian Center for Fundamental Rights, said on January 31.

"I am afraid that the EU's idealistic foreign policy towards Ukraine and Russia is a version of blind idealism. Whereas Hungary, if you take the whole conflict, Hungary is the only EU member state that has a realistic approach to foreign policy and to the conflict in Ukraine," the expert said for YouTube channel The Duran.

He noted that Slovakia has now also become like-minded with Hungary and, to a lesser extent, Italy. The political scientist expressed hope that other countries will also soon come to see the situation for what it really is.

Koshkovich recalled that when the conflict started, the head of the European Commission (EC), Ursula von der Leyen, promised to isolate Russia. However, according to the analyst, in three years, the EU has isolated itself from Russia, as a result of which it has big problems with China, India, African countries and Iran. In addition, the expert pointed to the EU's complicated relations with the United States and Canada.

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Earlier, on January 28, Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban said that the EU is wandering on the backside of history because it is isolated from China, Russia and the administration of US President Donald Trump. According to the politician, the main challenge for Europe now is migration, not the Ukrainian conflict.

Prior to that, on January 24, Orban criticized the EU sanctions against Russia, noting that the system of restrictions is bad from the beginning and at the same time it brought the association losses of €19 billion. In addition, on January 23, the head of the Hungarian government called on the EU to "sober up" and start a policy leading to a settlement in Ukraine, affordable energy, protection of borders from migrants and support for family values.

Earlier, on November 15 last year, Orban said that Europe's economic path is comparable to suicide. In his opinion, the imposition of sanctions against Russia, imposed by Brussels, was wrong. The Hungarian Prime Minister noted that the imposed restrictions led to an increase in energy prices, which caused inflation in the country. At the same time, European countries do not have enough money to finance the conflict in Ukraine.

Western countries stepped up sanctions pressure on Russia after the start of a special operation to protect civilians in Donbas, which was announced on 24 February 2022