The European Union’s “ill-advised” migration policy causes “social destabilisation” in Western Europe, which, together with negative economic trends could “put the existence of the EU as an organisation in jeopardy,” László Kövér, speaker of the Hungarian parliament, told the 72nd plenary meeting of representatives of the EU affairs committees of member states (COSAC) in Budapest on Monday.
Orbán cabinet shares thoughts on the European Union
All European politicians “who love their homelands and Europe” should work to eliminate that danger and “preserve the EU as the community of values and interests that its founders created it to be”, the speaker said.
With regards to the challenges of illegal migration, the recent Covid pandemic and the war in Ukraine, Kövér warned that the EU, which he said had been “a scheme for peace, democracy, and welfare” could now become “the reality of war, dictatorship, and impoverishment”.
Kövér slammed the European Union’s sanctions policy for contributing to the European GDP growth slowing to 0.2 percent, while Russia’s economy had grown by 3.6 percent last year, adding that the EU’s share in the global economy was shrinking each year. Electricity in Europe is 2-3 times as expensive as in the US, while gas is 4-5 times more expensive, he added.
He criticised the European Commission for failing to initiate legal changes in connection with the Minority Safe Pack signature drive aimed at resolving “a need for equal rights for some 40 million ethnic citizens and taxpayers in Europe”. He said he hoped the new commission would “adopt a different approach and exercise its authority in line with the EU treaties rather than arbitrarily”, but added that there was “no sign” of that new approach as yet.
Concerning the enlargement of the European Union, Kövér called for “meaningful progress” with possible candidates, saying that the EU must treat them “with integrity and without double standards”. He said the European Union “must not wait any longer with the Western Balkans”, adding that “countries in the forefront of negotiations, especially Serbia and Montenegro should be accepted as members as soon as possible”.
Hungary continues to see the future of the European Union in a community “based on the cooperation of strong nation states”, Kövér said. “It is not in contradiction with finding common solutions to common European challenges, but it requires open, democratic dialogue rather than stigmatising and isolating those with a different view,” he added.
EU Affairs Minister János Bóka said the Hungarian EU presidency was “striving to be a catalyst of change” in the bloc, making proposals “in the interest of peace, security, and welfare”.
He raised concern, however, over the “unprecedented challenges” facing the European Union, such as “Russia’s war of aggression in Ukraine” and the conflicts in the Middle East and Africa, threatening an escalation. He added that illegal migration and security risks could compromise the Schengen regime, while Europe was losing its economic competitiveness.
“What we can offer Europe is change … the Hungarian presidency, as an honest mediator, is in the position to make proposal,” he said, adding, at the same time, that the relevant decision must be made by the members and European Union institutions.
Concerning Europe’s competitiveness Bóka said the Hungarian presidency was aimed to have a new competitiveness agreement adopted at the European Council meeting set for November 8 in Budapest.
Bóka called the migration crisis an “urgent challenge”. He said that as well as raising security concerns, it had led to the restoration of “a broad range of internal border controls”.
Meanwhile, he said the Hungarian EU presidency was working to build a consensus on supporting Romania and Bulgaria’s full Schengen accession before the end of the year.
The minister said the EU integration of the Western Balkans should be speeded up and he called for further efforts to reduce regional disparities within the bloc. “Cohesion policy is not just donations from net payers of the EU but the greatest investment policy,” he said.
“We have a vested interest in a successful European Union, and the success of our presidency will be a success story for the whole EU,” he said.
Bóka said Hungary had opened its border to Ukrainian refugees after the outbreak of the war and launched “the largest humanitarian aid programme in its history” to help them. “Without too much publicity, we are doing everything to help Ukraine,” he said, adding that electricity exports through Hungary was helping save Ukraine’s electric grid from collapse, while Ukraine also met 20 percent of its diesel demand from Hungarian sources.
The latest package of financial aid to Ukraine was adopted under the Hungarian presidency, and negotiations to help Ukraine cope with the hardships of winter are under way, he added.
The Hungarian presidency is ready to promote the process of Ukraine’s EU entry, Bóka said, adding however that “doing more is not enough for victory; we must do something different”, and called for “open political dialogue rather than political PR”.
Read also:
Orban and his Fidesz cronies work night and day to destroy the EU to further Russian interests. The weaker and more divided the EU is and the more it is unable to enact policy due to Hungarian obstruction the more powerful Russia becomes and the more influence it has over Europe. Russia is conducting hybrid warfare right now against Europe and Fidesz is their right hand in this. Orban has betrayed Europe.
It’s plain as day that the E.U. as a whole and most of its member countries are DELIBERATELY allowing Europe to be flooded by literally millions of third-world invaders.
The only question is WHY. We can speculate but most of us have a pretty good idea as to the answer.
Thank God we have a government that doesn’t play ball in this self-destruction.