Hungary’s prime minister attacks the European Union with military language. Orban describes the sanctions against Russia, which he helped to decide on himself, as an attack on his country. Actually, however, his speech on the national holiday is about Stalin’s bloody rule in 1956.
Hungary’s right-wing Prime Minister Viktor Orban has accused the EU of underhandedly “shooting” at Hungary with sanctions against Russia. Speaking this afternoon in the city of Zalaegerszeg on the occasion of the holiday commemorating the uprising in Hungary in 1956, he prophesied that the European Union would face a fate similar to that of the Eastern bloc, which began to disintegrate in 1989. “We shouldn’t worry about those who are shooting at Hungary somewhere in the shadows from the watchtowers in Brussels,” Orban said. “They will end up where their predecessors ended.”
Orban is in conflict with the EU over the dismantling of the rule of law in Hungary. Among other things, Hungary is threatened with the withdrawal of billions in corona aid. Orban made the comments on the occasion of the holiday on October 23, when Hungary commemorates the 1956 anti-Stalinist uprising, which was bloodily crushed by Moscow. The West has failed its country against Stalinism. Hungary has learned from this that it must always defend itself, Orban said. “We’ll hold out when it’s necessary and fight back when we can,” he said.
Posters reading “Brussels sanctions are ruining us” were put up in Budapest and other parts of the country. In mid-October, the Orban government launched a “national consultation” on EU sanctions against Russia, which primarily affect energy imports from Russia. Orban has repeatedly criticized the EU sanctions imposed because of Moscow’s war of aggression against Ukraine, even though he approved them at the meetings of EU heads of state and government. Hungary is heavily dependent on Russian oil and gas. The government in Budapest has been careful to maintain good relations with the Kremlin since the beginning of the war. She also refused to provide military aid to Ukraine.
Unlike previous years, Orban’s supporters did not gather in Budapest this year on October 23. A large rally was to take place in the Hungarian capital to protest against the poor pay of teachers. Instead, Orban spoke in western Hungary’s Zalaegerszeg, where there is a memorial site related to resistance to the Stalinists. The event in front of invited guests took place in a place strictly cordoned off by the police. Residents were only allowed to leave their apartments from Saturday to Sunday evening after showing their ID cards.
