Viktor Orban, Hungary’s controversial Prime Minister, has warned the European Union he will not be “blackmailed” as he struck a defiant tone after the European Parliament condemned his government’s perceived erosion of the rule of law.
And a key ally has even called for the total abolition of the assembly in a message on social media.
The Parliament adopted its non-binding resolution last week, with 345 votes in favour, 104 against and 29 abstentions – and also called on the European Council to decide whether Hungary should be stripped of its voting rights.
Speaking to Hungary’s state broadcaster afterwards, Mr Orban insisted he would continue to take a firm line against LGBTQ rights and asylum seekers, insisting: “They can’t blackmail us.”
His remarks were backed up in a Facebook post by his right-wing Fidesz party, which said: “We will not let them turn Hungary into a migrant-country and we will protect our children from LGBTQ propaganda.”
Posting on X, Balazs Orban, Mr Orban’s political director (who is no relation), said: “Outrageous to see leftist MEPs abusing their power to blackmail EU institutions.
“No wonder that in the debate on EU reform, Hungary proposes to abolish the European Parliament in its current form and create a new Parliament consisting of national delegates.
“This is the only way to ensure a fair, credible, accountable body driven by the interests of the citizens of the European Union.”
Peter Kreko, the executive director of the Budapest-based Political Capital Institute, told the EU’s Parliament Magazine the strident rhetoric indicated the Orban government’s indifference to criticism.
With crunch elections in June, he also suggested: “It shows that the European Parliament is under pressure. For Hungarian politics, it doesn’t matter if the EP is attacking Hungary or not, or how it’s doing so.”
Mr Orban’s government will argue it is “under fire from the LGBTQ lobby and pro-migration left”, he continued.
He added: “And in the past years we’ve seen that with campaigns like this, Fidesz managed to mobilise its voters very well.”
Last Thursday’s vote came after members of the centre-right European People’s Party issued a formal petition calling for the invocation of Article 7 (2) of the Treaty on European Union – allowing for allows the potential suspension of membership rights – earlier this month.
The final resolution called for the European Council – consisting of the leaders of the EU’s 27 member-states to determine whether Hungary has committed “serious and persistent breaches of EU values”.
The step was triggered by among other things Mr Orban’s decision to veto EU funding for Ukraine in December. He has also vowed to block Ukraine’s potential accession to the Union.
Speaking in the Parliament after the resolution as passed, liberal Hungarian MEP Katalin Cseh, vice president of the Renew Europe group, said: “This House shows that we are serious when it comes to defending the rule of law in our Union and that we are not afraid of Prime Minister Orban’s blackmailing attempts.”
In a separate statement issued later she added: “The Commission will now have to face the consequences for selling out our EU values.”
Her remark was a reference the decision by the bloc’s executive to release up to £8.5 billion (€10.2 billion) in cash to Hungary in December.
The prospect of the Council actually removing Hungary’s voting rights is extremely remote, given it would require an unanimous decision, and therefore the support of Slovakia, a close ally of Budapest.
