International politics get a taste of paprika
What Finland's NATO membership has to do with Hungary's EU dole?
I’m working on a 3 part series on institutional (re)capture, how Conservatives in Hungary suck at it, and how Elon seems to be handling it at Twitter.
In the mean time, here’s this shorty:
What Finland's NATO membership has to do with Hungary's EU dole?
Nothing. NATO and the EU are separate institutions.
There are two things Hungary is blocking right now:
The approval of an €18 billion EU support package for Ukraine
Sweden’s and Finland’s NATO-membership
Orban is perfectly fine with both1, whatever.
However, remember the Budapester Zeitung interview, the part concerning the resolution to the ongoing rule-of-law or whatever fuckery process withholding the EU funds that we deserve dammit:
And with the fulfilment of these 17 points, can the current game with EU funds finally be brought to an end?
I am afraid not. I assume that there will be more and more requests after these. Look at the way the Poles are being treated! They have done everything that has been demanded of them, that had been mutually agreed before. But then new demands are put on the table, solely to continue to withhold from the Poles the resources that are due to them. Clearly, this is about forcing a change of government in Poland.
[...]
We are now dealing with 17 demands. We will meet all of them. But I bet that immediately after that there will be an 18th, a 19th and so on...
So there is no hope that the EU funds that have been withheld will finally be paid out in full?
I assume that the money we are owed will be released at the end of the year. If this does not happen, it will lead to a series of unforeseeable conflicts.
So the question was and is: how can Hungary avoid the endless, drawn-out, humiliating cuckery by Brussels that the Poles are — helplessly — suffering from?
The answer is a cynical — but hilarious — move that makes it deserve this post: by hiding behind the Hungarian National Assembly.
You see, they have to ratify Hungarian support for the NATO membership, and they totally would do it, after a “debate” of course, but fulfilling the 17 points that supposed to remedy Brussels’ objections takes priority. As long as we’re not getting the EU funds, let it be because Brussels is not happy with the way the 17 measures were implemented, or because they come up with an 18th, 19th point, the National Assembly’s priority will be to make sure Brussels gets what it wants.
Only then can NATO expansion be “debated” and a decision made.
Brussels’ (just treat it as a blob, Council, Parliament, finance ministers’ meeting, whatever) ultimate deadline to decide that the 17 measures were implemented properly by Hungary is the 6th of December.
The National Assembly plans to vote on Sweden’s and Finland’s acceptance into NATO on the 7th of December. And you bet they’ll vote yes. It’s a great idea!
Unless the EU decides the day before that we still have some dicks to suck, wearing a clown costume (why not), as a condition for the dole to get here. Oh yeah and the Benny Hill theme has to play in the background, ja.
If that’s the case, the National Assembly will be too busy working to remedy whatever Brussels objects to, and won’t be able to be bothered with NATO expansion, unfortunately.
It’s so important for Hungary to please Brussels that nothing else can get in the way until alles in Ordnung on this matter, sorry.
This was the EU’s stupid game, they wanted Hungary to play it, so Hungary does, and now the dildo is in the EU’s court.
Cover: Czechoslovakian beauty pageant winners visiting Budapest in 1969. I was looking for paprika and figured this sells better. It has nothing to do with the top
Finance Minister Mihály Varga was tasked with ensuring that Hungary’s share of the EUR 18 billion loan from the European Union to Ukraine, EUR 187 million, is secured.
The resolution goes on to say that Foreign Minister Péter Szijjártó should "start negotiations with Ukraine on behalf of Hungary in order to work out an agreement for the financial assistance".
https://m.hvg.hu/gazdasag/20221123_kormany_hitel_ukrajna_magyar_kozlony