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PM: EU MEMBERS WITH OWN OPINIONS 'BLACKMAILED'

Prime Minister Viktor Orbán has told French weekly Le Point that member states that diverged from the EU on the issues of war, migration and gender, were blackmailed by "imperialist Brussels".
 

In the interview published on Tuesday, Orbán said Hungary maintained its stance that no military solution to the war in Ukraine was foreseeable and a ceasefire and peace talks were necessary. Other EU member states, however, tended towards a military solution and recommended the EU hand over 50 billion euros to Ukraine over four years, he added. Sovereign Hungary, he said, opposed the related budget amendment, yet the other member states did not recognise this sovereign right, and were attempting to blackmail the government into supporting the financing package. Hungary, he added, was prepared to sign up to the deal if member states could decide unanimously each year whether or not to continue sending the money to Ukraine. This was not about blackmailing the bloc with its veto but about restoring and maintaining EU unity, he said. Asked about how Hungary’s position had been received, Orbán said: “If I understand correctly, the Financial Times published … the response, which was hardly positive.”