Since the beginning of the Russian invasion, Viktor Orban has been careful to maintain good relations with the Kremlin in order to continue receiving gas and oil.
Nationalist Prime Minister Viktor Orban on Sunday accused Brussels of sneakily “shooting” at Hungary with its series of sanctions against Russia, which Budapest has described as a “bomb” on the economy.
“Let’s not worry about those who are shooting at Hungary somewhere in the shadows from the watchtowers of Brussels,” he began in a speech given on the national day in Zalaegerszeg (West) commemorating Hungary’s uprising against the USSR 1956
“They will land where their predecessors landed,” he added, prophesying that the European Union would face a fate similar to that of the Eastern bloc that collapsed between 1989 and 1991.
National Consultation
This speech commemorates the “national consultation” launched by the government in mid-October on European sanctions against Moscow, which Viktor Orban continues to castigate, even though he voted for it together with his partners.
Posters were hung in the capital and the rest of the country with a message flanked by a rocket: “The sanctions from Brussels are ruining us”.
“War on our doorstep, financial crisis and economic slowdown in the EU, migratory invasion in the south (…), we have to face several problems,” declared the Prime Minister on Sunday, assuring that “his strong and united” will overcome this ordeal.
Good relations with Moscow
Since the start of the conflict in Ukraine, Hungary, which is heavily dependent on Russian hydrocarbon imports, has been careful to maintain good relations with the Kremlin to continue receiving gas and oil. At the same time, it refused to provide military aid to Kyiv and criticized Brussels’ strategy.
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Unlike in previous years, when teachers and students there announced a major demonstration, Viktor Orban did not gather his supporters in Budapest on October 23.
After years of unsuccessful wage demands, Hungarian teachers, who are paid between 170,000 forints (410 euros) and 396,000 forints (950 euros) a month, have hardened their tone, angry at the passage in February of a decree drastically curtailing the right to strike. Tens of thousands of them have taken to the streets several times since the beginning of the school year.
Original article published on BFMTV.com
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