The ruling coalition of Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán this month has rolled out a petition that asks voters to oppose any further contributions from Hungary to support the defense of Ukraine.
The petition form will be mailed out soon, and can be returned any time before March 23. On April 12, Hungary is scheduled to hold parliamentary elections, in which Orbán’s Fidesz party faces the prospect of losing for the first time since 2006.
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The mailer targets EU funding to Kyiv, and raises concerns about Ukrainian membership in the now-27 member bloc, which Zelensky has asked to happen, at least on a “technical” level, by 2027.
Orbán frets that this would lead to another $800 billion to support Ukraine once it becomes a member.
Hungary was accepted into the EU in 2004. Orbán, one of only two EU member leaders to retain close relations with the Kremlin, has been adamant in his opposition to Ukraine aid since the Russians’ full-scale invasion began in 2022.
His party’s petition features the image of President Volodymyr Zelensky with his hand outstretched, as if begging for money. Beside him are European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen and European People’s Party leader Manfred Weber, depicted as encouraging people to give Zelensky their money.
“Brussels is also preparing not only to supply weapons,” the text of the petition reads. “Brussels has decided to enter the war on Ukraine’s side. Ursula von der Leyen says ‘Europe must fight!’. And Europeans, including us Hungarians, will pay the costs of the war.
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“Brussels is hiding from Europeans the obvious fact that Ukraine will never repay the hundreds of billions of euros in aid. Brussels bureaucrats are preparing to take hundreds of billions from Europeans and from us Hungarians, promised to Ukraine,”
Orbán also claims that Hungarians will be stripped of their 13th- and 14th-month pension payments, face higher taxes and lose reduced utility tariffs, “and the money will be taken to Ukraine”.
Next to the three boxes it asks respondents to tick:
- “I say ‘no’ to further funding of the Russo-Ukrainian war!”
- “I say ‘no’ to us paying for the functioning of the Ukrainian state for the next 10 years!”
- “I say ‘no’ to higher utility tariffs because of the war!”
In an interview with European Pravda published Tuesday, Foreign Minister Andrii Sybiha said Orbán was not only a menace to Ukraine’s EU membership, but also a domestic threat.
“Things must be called by their right names,” he said. “Hungary is the only obstacle to Ukraine’s membership in the EU. Moreover, I believe that the prime minister of Hungary is a threat to his own people.”