The political scientist assessed the consequences of Hungary's conflict with the EU on financing Ukraine

The conflict between Hungary and the European Union (EU) on the issue of financing Ukraine continues to gain momentum. Budapest is facing a difficult choice: to support Brussels and risk industry and the economy, or to defend national interests, being subjected to pressure from the European Commission (EC). Political scientist and publicist Georgy Dibrov told Izvestia on March 26.

"Prime Minister Viktor Orban is choosing between short-term difficulties and long-term development. The correctness of the choice of the current Fidesz party is obvious. Not only the internal well-being of the country depends on Hungary's actions, but also the energy security of the entire EU," the expert noted.

According to him, the reaction of other member countries of the bloc to Hungary's actions is mixed. Slovakia expressed support, Germany and Sweden, on the contrary, openly supported Brussels, Italy demonstrated mild assistance. At the same time, some states refrain from making public statements because they understand that the pressure from Brussels will affect them as well.

The political scientist believes that the long-term consequences for the region can be serious.

"If Hungary stops resisting, the pressure on the population will only increase, and the influence of the European bureaucracy will consolidate. The parliamentary elections on April 12 will be a key test: the opposition supported by Brussels will oppose the nationally oriented politicians," Dibrov said.

He also stressed that the actions of the European Commission can be considered as a form of economic pressure. The examples of Ukraine and Moldova show that Brussels actively influences sovereign countries using economic and political levers.

The expert added that Hungary will continue to block aid to Ukraine in order to reduce the escalation in Eastern Europe and defend national interests. According to Dibrov, the actions of Orban and the Fidesz party correspond to the demands of the country and the foreign policy challenges of our time. This is an example of how countries can defend their sovereignty in the face of pressure from the EU.

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RMF24 reported on March 25 that the EC had frozen "the approval of Hungary's loan plan for rearmament under the SAFE program in the amount of more than €16 billion due to Budapest blocking the allocation of a loan to Ukraine.

Prior to that, on March 20, Hungarian Minister of Foreign Affairs and Foreign Economic Relations Peter Szijjarto said that military fanaticism prevailed in the EC. He also said that Budapest does not want to send soldiers and weapons, and is also not going to finance Kiev with the money of the Hungarian people. He noted that his country is against Ukraine as part of the EU.

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