Hungary withholds support for EU’s 800 billion euro defense plan

The parliamentary state secretary for EU affairs said on Monday that the government will not risk Hungary’s sovereignty.

In a Facebook post, Barna Pál Zsigmond said that while progress had been made towards peace in recent weeks thanks to the new “pro-peace” US administration, Brussels was “seeking new resources to escalate the conflict” in Ukraine. Zsigmond said the EU has put forward an 800 billion euro defence plan along with a joint borrowing proposal, and even wanted to divert cohesion funds towards its rearmament push.

He said Hungary did not support the 800 billion euro plan because it did not see how it would be covered. “There are some who would fall in line in exchange for a bit of sovereignty, and if Brussels so wished, would even mortgage Hungary’s sovereignty for Ukraine,” the state secretary said. Zsigmond said the longer the war between Russia and Ukraine went on, the sooner the rearmament plan would “bankrupt” the continent.

Europe, he said, had “suffered a lot of economic damage because of Ukraine”. “We’ve seen the damage done in agriculture, the difficult situation endured by lorry drivers, the skyrocketing energy prices and the wartime inflation,” he said.

“We Hungarians therefore take a clear stand for peace,” Zsigmond said. “We don’t support weapons deliveries to Ukraine, because they … only serve to prolong the war.” “We don’t support joint borrowing,” he said, arguing that a “debt union” would trap member states. “Hungary will not become a tool for more political blackmail,” the state secretary added.

As we wrote ten days ago, Bosnia-Herzegovina officially requests the replacement of Hungarian peacekeepers in the country. Read details HERE.