Hungarian Politics

[Crazy_Ivan80]

In favour of rapping Hungary on the knuckles (although I sincerely doubt it'll ever happen) but Ukraine membership in euro is way, way too premature. After all the shit Hungarians done surprised that's the straw for Denmark.

It's negotiations. These can go on for decades. Just ask the turks

[Tamas]

Indeed. As I mentioned, Ukraine's EU membership is the latest bogeyman BS that Orban is (trying to) feed to the masses. I suspect it doesn't really work that well anymore. Anyways, he is painting a picture where membership is imminent and that it'd destroy Hungarian agriculture and decimate EU funds arriving to Hungary (as if he hasn't made sure the country is missing out on those now, after 15 years of him stealing most of it).

I do wonder if perhaps the wiser strategy at this stage by EU -after financing the rise of a whole new, cleptocratic, massively rich aristocracy in Hungary- is to continue biding their time, suffocating Orban financially and politically as silently as possible so his PR machine has little to feed on.

Then once he has to very openly cheat next year to stay in power, swing into action and help Peter Magyar enforce the election results.

[HVC]

In favour of rapping Hungary on the knuckles (although I sincerely doubt it'll ever happen) but Ukraine membership in euro is way, way too premature. After all the shit Hungarians done surprised that's the straw for Denmark.

It's negotiations. These can go on for decades. Just ask the turks

Turkey won't ever be let in because they're Muslim. I could see Ukraine inducted early, though, through a misguided sense of unity. Not tomorrow or anything like that, but earlier then would be responsible.

[Crazy_Ivan80]

In favour of rapping Hungary on the knuckles (although I sincerely doubt it'll ever happen) but Ukraine membership in euro is way, way too premature. After all the shit Hungarians done surprised that's the straw for Denmark.

It's negotiations. These can go on for decades. Just ask the turks

Turkey won't ever be let in because they're Muslim.

one should hope that's the case.

[Sheilbh]

Turkey won't ever be let in because they're Muslim. I could see Ukraine inducted early, though, through a misguided sense of unity. Not tomorrow or anything like that, but earlier then would be responsible.

It's a challenge.

The EU absolutely wants to let Ukraine in as a priority and I think for good reason. In large part Ukrainians are literally dying for the idea of Europe.

On the other hand measured against the acquis Ukraine is nowhere near ready and won't be for some time (something of an irony in owning Orban by rushing the entry of a state with relatively weak democratic institutions, limited rule of law and entrench corruption...oh now ).

There are also points where I think Europe would need to change first too. Ukraine has a very big agriculture sector which would basically blow up current European agricultural policy. Obviously it depends on the outcome that leads to accession - and Russia has said NATO membership is a red line but EU membership isn't. But I think it would be challenging Europe would deal with accession for a country with possibly a frozen conflict or some legitimate goals to re-take territory without NATO membership or other security guarantee. There is a reason that in the EU's eastward expansion in the 2000s that EU membership follows NATO membership.

On the other hand if you want to pick an issue on which to have a fight wit Orban, or look to activating Article 7, then Ukraine is very, very good because it unites most other European governments and the European public is very pro-Ukraine.

[Jacob]

In favour of rapping Hungary on the knuckles (although I sincerely doubt it'll ever happen) but Ukraine membership in euro is way, way too premature. After all the shit Hungarians done surprised that's the straw for Denmark.

It's not necessarily that it's the last straw, it's still the first few days of Denmark holding the chair.

[Tamas]

Get ready for Hungarian-Ukrainian relationship to become MUCH worse soon.

With polls numbers steadily getting worse and worse for Fidesz, they keep pushing their "everything bad is Ukraine's fault who are financing Peter Magyar to ruin the country" narrative.

I don't think it was sticking outside their very core, but they got a lifeline.

An ethnic Hungarian conscript died in hospital while on training in Ukraine. A throw-away Facebook profile claiming to be his brother posted a video of him being pretty much ignored by medics as he was crawling to help after supposedly being severely beaten up. To be fair, as I understand it was quite horrid.

The Ukrainian side has launched an investigation into his death, but the Hungarian government is pushing this so hard that their "foreign minister" has already named the Ukrainian military officers responsible for his death and demanded EU sanctions against them.

This morning the same online "news site" who broke the poor dead guy's story now posted about a church burned and desecrated with "Hungarians out" messages in a Hungarian village, picked up by Orban immediately to swear Hungary will defend Hungarians there.

I can easily believe the conscript being the victim of bullying, it is a post-Soviet military we are talking about after all. But I am very convinced the church-burning is done by Russian agents to help Orban out.

[Valmy]

I just have a hard time believing that in the middle of an existential war against Russia, an anti-Hungarian mob is going to form and start committing ethnic cleansing just because the Hungarian government is mad about this one guy dying.

But it is Eastern Europe, their ways are foreign to me.

[Legbiter]

This morning the same online "news site" who broke the poor dead guy's story now posted about a church burned and desecrated with "Hungarians out" messages in a Hungarian village, picked up by Orban immediately to swear Hungary will defend Hungarians there.

Very obvious russian false-flag operation. It's like the Scandinavian Koran-burnings during the NATO negotiations for Sweden. The Turks pretended to be retarded and outraged over them in order to extract other concessions.

[Tamas]

In other news, just like a year before the last election, Orban's eldest daughter and her husband (obviously made insanely rich by Orban) are about to move abroad with their family. This time it's not Marbella, Spain, but New York. In fact they have already signed up their kids to some elite New York school, who pride themselves on teaching multiculturalism and diversity to their pupils.

It is so frustrating sometimes, the level of contempt these far-righters keep their own supporters in. Publicly they preach the decline of the West and the rise of the East, but for some reason for education, fun, and comfort, they move west, not east.