Weeklies on Hungary’s spats with its allies
January 29th, 2024Commentators agree that hindering first Finland’s then Sweden’s accession to NATO, as well as being sanctioned by the European Union and openly criticised by the US administration, have put Hungary in a unique position within the Western alliance, although they offer conflicting explanations.
In Magyar Hang, Szabolcs Szerető describes the long-drawn-out process of Hungary’s refusal to ratify Sweden’s accession to NATO as a ‘peculiar soap opera’ which has not yielded any positive results for its main character, Prime Minister Viktor Orbán. The only thing he has achieved, Szerető writes, is that after the European Union, Hungary’s loyalty as an ally is now also questioned within NATO. He doesn’t believe the Prime Minister can extricate himself with his prestige intact from a situation he created himself.
In Jelen, Zoltán Lakner predicts that Hungary will remain under pressure within the European Union over rule of law concerns within the alliance, but most of all among members of the European Parliament. Their recent complaints against the Commission, which unfroze €10 billion in funds for Hungary of the €30 billion originally blocked, will not lead to any further punishment of the Hungarian government, he believes. Nevertheless, he is quite certain that Hungary will find it difficult to unblock more of those funds over the coming years.
In Mandiner, László Dornfeld describes the latest session of the European Parliament where Hungary and the European Commission were both criticised, as a campaign-opening event of the globalist camp ahead of the European elections scheduled for June this year. Hungary is being punished, he suggests, because almost alone among member countries, it chose to represent the interests of the nation against the global elite. On both sides of the Atlantic, he concludes, sovereignist citizens must now act to send ’globalists in Washington and in Brussels packing, drain the swamp and give back representation to the people’.
In Demokrata, Gábor Bencsik takes it almost for granted that Donald Trump will be Republican nominee for President and believes he will probably defeat President Biden in November. ‘We might have our own opinion about Trump’s style and attitudes’, he writes, but not without suggesting that he would be the better choice both for the world and for Hungary.