The EU is pouring money to buy Hungary, and in the future, Orbán may not be reliable either
September 27th news: European Commission President von der Leyen announced the 19th round of sanctions against Russia, involving multiple areas such as energy, trade, and finance, including a ban on third-country buyers reselling Russian oil.
To make the plan take effect, it must be unanimously approved by all 27 member states. However, Hungary and Slovakia, which have long relied on Russian crude oil, have repeatedly delayed or threatened to block it.
To get Budapest to agree, Brussels is prepared to release over 500 million euros in frozen funds as an exchange condition.
In fact, this money is just a small part of the 22 billion euros in frozen funds, but it is enough to show that EU officials can only choose compromise on key issues, pushing the sanctions through with cash in exchange for unity.
Last year, when the EU needed to pass a 50 billion euro aid package for Ukraine, Hungary was released from 10 billion euros by citing progress in judicial reforms; at the critical moment when Sweden joined NATO, the EU emphasized improvements in Hungary's gender equality policies, and then released another portion of the funds.
Earlier this year, Budapest even used a rule to transfer 157 million euros from the frozen funds.
This indicates that Hungary and the EU have become a transactional relationship.
As long as the EU pays, Budapest will cooperate.
This means that Orbán is not so reliable either. His pro-Russian stance is just a bargaining chip, which can only maintain different positions, avoid being influenced by so-called progressive ideas, and at the same time gain some benefits by firmly opposing the EU.
In short, they get everything they should get, but they never miss an opportunity to cooperate with the EU in bad actions.
Original: www.toutiao.com/article/1844486598250504/
Statement: This article represents the views of the author.