Conservative Champion Viktor Orbán is a man with deep-rooted convictions and opinions. And he has the fortitude to express them in a very frank and direct way.
So, today, the Hungarian Prime Minister takes on the rotating presidency of the European Union, an entity he once described as ‘the contemporary parody version of the Soviet Union’.
He did it his own way – clashing with Brussels every step of the way on a host of issues. He rejected unchecked mass migration, the crippling ‘green policies’ and – of course – the blind backing of Ukraine in the war and the rush towards WW3.
Who can forget this? EPIC Hungary’s Orbán on EU ‘Blackmail’: ‘There Is Not Enough Money in the World To Force Us To Accept Mass Migration and To Put Our Children in the Hands of LGBTQ Activists’.
So, to mark his deep differences, Orbán chose as the slogan of his presidency ‘Make Europe Great Again’, to the dismay of the European Mainstream media.
Reuters reported:
“Hungary’s nationalist government launches its presidency of the European Union on Monday with a Trump-like call to “Make Europe Great Again” after EU lawmakers questioned whether it should be allowed to take on the role.”
As I’ve written before, the European Union is a supra-national behemoth with a complicated power structure.
It has an elected parliament, a council of appointed power players, and a whole host of Commissaries.
The top three jobs are the EU Commissioner, now in the hands of re-elected Ursula von der Leyen, the European Council President with outgoing Belgian Charles Michel and the Portuguese António Costa replacing him; and the ‘High Representative of the Union for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy’ a.k.a. top diplomat, currently the Spaniard Joseph Borrell, now to be replaced by former Estonian PM Kaja Kallas.
If that is not confusing enough, there is also a Presidency of the EU, a job that rotates among the member countries’ leaderships.
Now, just as most of Europe strides rightward, it’s Hungary’s turn.
“The presidency’s role is to set the agenda, chair meetings of EU members in all fields except foreign or euro zone matters, seek consensus among EU member states and broker agreements on legislation with the European Parliament.”
Orbán will face a transition period of the new Parliament and Commissaries.
“Hungary has said its priorities include pushing western Balkan membership of the EU, illegal migration and economic competitiveness.
Critics note its enlargement push does not include Ukraine.”
The Guardian reported:
“On 1 July, under that Trumpian banner, Hungary will take on the six-month rotating presidency of the EU council of ministers. As well as a spell in the diplomatic limelight, Viktor Orbán’s government will be setting the EU agenda for the rest of the year.
[…] EU insiders have fumed as Hungary blocked €6.6bn (£5.6bn) of military aid for Ukraine via the European Peace Facility fund. The EPF partially reimburses EU member states for buying or sending weapons for Ukraine, so in effect Budapest is denying other EU capitals money to replenish their own defense stocks. Orbán has also held up – although he later relented – on advancing Ukraine’s EU accession talks, and secured opt-outs and weakened versions of EU sanctions against Russia.”
Before the presidency, diplomatic niceties prevailed. And reports abound that Hungarian officials have hinted at a ‘low-key technocratic affair’ to chair the hundreds of technical and diplomatic meetings.
“On the eve of Hungary’s presidency, Orbán announced he had joined forces with Austria’s far-right party and the populist Czech ANO party, launching a new European alliance.
The aim was to create the strongest rightwing bloc in the European parliament, Orbán said, though the trio needs to attract politicians from at least four more EU countries to successfully form a group.
‘What Europeans want is three things: peace, order and development’, Orbán said on Sunday. ‘And what they are getting from the elite in Brussels today is war, migration and stagnation’.”
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