Hungary will not blackmail the EU with its veto power, says new Foreign Minister
Kyiv • UNN
Anita Orbán announced a rejection of veto blackmail to restore EU trust. Péter Magyar's government plans to unblock funding and strengthen the courts.
Hungary will no longer use its veto power over European Union policy as a blackmail tool and will work to regain the trust of EU and NATO partners, stated Hungary's new Foreign Minister Anita Orbán, UNN reports, citing Bloomberg.
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"Too often, Hungary has been a problem in the European decision-making process," said Orbán, who is not related to former Prime Minister Viktor Orbán. "We used the veto not as a last resort, but for political theater."
Speaking at a parliamentary confirmation hearing, Orbán stated that Hungarian Prime Minister Péter Magyar's priority would be restoring access to tens of billions in European Union funding, which was suspended under the previous government due to rule-of-law concerns.
In the lead-up to last month's elections, in which Magyar's Tisza party won by a landslide, Viktor Orbán's government used its veto power to block budget amendments allowing for a 90 billion euro EU loan to help Ukraine fight Russia's full-scale invasion.
Restoring the flow of EU funds was a key campaign promise for Tisza and is central to hopes for reviving an economy that has barely grown in three years. Anita Orbán stated that the government would strengthen judicial independence and improve oversight of public spending toward this end.
Hungary will support Ukraine's closer integration with the EU only as a matter of "strict national interest," she said, adding that the new government would continue its predecessor's policy of demanding further rights for the ethnic Hungarian minority in Ukraine.