Index – Abroad – Hungary is “friendly to Russia”, said the Polish deputy foreign minister

The Poles have criticized the Hungarian government’s perceived pro-Russian policy in connection with the invasion of Ukraine on several occasions. For example, the former commander of the Polish Special Operations Forces (GROM), Roman Polko, suggested a few months ago that he would not mind if Hungary were excluded from NATO, because the Hungarians hinder the operation of the alliance.

According to MTI’s report, Polish Deputy Foreign Minister Andrzej Szejna now spoke about whether Poland should agree to give up its veto right in the EU, Szejna replied: they do not agree to completely give up the right of veto.

He added,

because if we agree to the enlargement of the EU, among other things, to the future accession of Ukraine, then the right of veto will be a double-edged sword”.

Andrzej Szejna explained that he would consider it important if the EU member states did not agree on giving up the right of veto in the field of enlargement. “When it comes to enlargement, each country has to decide individually,” he declared.

However, he added that it is possible to eliminate unanimous decision-making on other topics. In this context, he mentioned defense policy and then stated,

when we talk about security policy, for example, we see how poorly the right of veto works in the case of Russia-friendly Hungary.

Sejna did not mention a specific example in this regard. By the way, the last time Viktor Orbán used the veto tool was when he did not agree to the transfer of 50 billion euros of aid to Ukraine at the end of last year (in the end, after long negotiations, he agreed to this at the beginning of February this year, after, according to his claim, they received adequate guarantees that “Hungary’s money cannot enter Ukraine”).

Prior to this, the Prime Minister also waved his veto in relation to the start of accession negotiations with Ukraine, but (memorably) in the end rather “went out for a coffee” when the decision was made. Regardless, Viktor Orbán will still have the opportunity to veto Ukraine’s accession in the future.

According to the Poles, change is needed

Before Sejna’s statement, Polish Foreign Minister Radoslaw Sikorski said on Wednesday that it is not certain that the amendment of the basic treaties is inevitable in the reform of the EU, but it cannot be ruled out that some of the member states make EU enlargement dependent on this.

“The most controversial part of the reform could be the elimination of unanimous decision-making in certain areas,” noted Sikorski. Outlining possible new solutions, he stated that if the EU wants to become a “power with more than thirty members”, it “needs more effective decision-making”.

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