Hungarians would rather be closer to the Austrians and Germans than to the Russians

Hungarians would turn to the Western world, while some in the governing party would turn to Russia, but all of them see Hungary’s future in NATO.

Policy Solutions survey

The majority thinks Hungary belongs in the West, but the proportion of those who would move closer to Russia has doubled compared to two years ago. Thursday’s edition of Policy Solutions looked at how the Hungarian public thinks.

In Hungary, 55 percent of those surveyed believe that the country belongs to the West and should continue to strive towards it in the future. Only 13 percent of Hungarians disagree with this, interestingly enough, among Fidesz voters this figure is 21 percent, Népszava.hu reports.

On the other hand, a quarter of Hungarians would prefer to move closer to Russia and further away from the European Union. But even so, there are still more people (45 percent) who would not like closer cooperation with Russia.

Leading power in the Central European region

The majority of Hungarians do not think that Hungary could be the leading power in the Central European region. So we should accept that we will not determine the future of the region.

The survey also looked at who Hungarians would build close relationships with. There were 17 countries to choose from, of which Hungarians would most likely build closer ties with Austria (90 percent), Germany (87 percent) and Croatia (86 percent). In contrast, China, South Korea, Ukraine and Russia ranked last.

Unsurprisingly, among Fidesz and Mi Hazánk supporters, Ukraine is the most unpopular, while Russia is the most unpopular among the opposition.

NATO or not NATO

The vast majority of those polled support Hungary remaining a member of NATO. In addition, more than two thirds agree that Finland and Sweden should also have a place in NATO.

A majority is in favour of the EU providing financial support to Ukraine, but they do not want Hungary to pay.

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