Tamás Lánczi, the show’s host, said the European Commission had recently published a “victory report” on sanctions against Russia, and Belgian liberal MEP Guy Verhofstadt had said that none of the nine sanctions packages were working, but had concluded nonetheless that failed sanctions could be turned to success by intensifying them, the hirado.hu website reported. Political scientist Zoltán Kiszelly said trade between Russia and most EU states had increased in 2022 compared with 2021, while larger Asian states were passing on cheap Russian energy to Europe.
Former green politician András Schiffer said western states were not using sanctions to force peace negotiations, and the EU was swayed by powerful companies that were asserting their own interests, with the military industrial complex “benefitting the most. Átlátszó journalist András Hont said the West wanted to divide the world into moral and immoral players and tried to guarantee security “without getting its hands dirty”. Historian Gábor Megadja said Brussels politicians were failing to draw logical conclusions from the facts.