Hungary's Orbán slams EU over ban on returning frozen assets to Russia
Photo: Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán (Getty Images)
Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán threw a tantrum on Facebook after the European Commission decided to hold a vote on banning Russia from returning frozen assets. The pro-Russian politician called it a Brussels dictatorship.
On December 11, the European Union's Committee of Permanent Representatives began voting on the European Commission's proposal to ban the return of Russian assets frozen in the EU.
After that, Orbán, who is a great admirer of Russia's Vladimir Putin, criticized Brussels. In particular, Orbán said that the European Commission would cross the Rubicon and that the vote would allegedly cause irreparable damage to the Union.
"The subject of the vote is frozen Russian assets, which until now have been put to a vote by EU member states every six months, resulting in unanimous decisions. With today's procedure, Brussels is abolishing the unanimity requirement with a stroke of the pen, which is clearly illegal," wrote the pro-Russian Hungarian prime minister.
Orbán also accused the European Commission of allegedly systematically violating European law and wanting to continue its clearly losing war in Ukraine. He added that "the decision would put an end to the rule of law in the European Union, and European leaders would become above the rules... a Brussels dictatorship would be established."
"Hungary protests against this decision and will do everything in its power to restore the rule of law," the pro-Russian politician threatens.
Orbán's hysteria is quite understandable when one recalls that on December 11, the European Union adopted a change in the rules that simplifies the extension of the freezing of Russian assets. Now, unanimity on the freezing of Russian assets is no longer the only option.
Thus, Hungary and Slovakia will no longer be able to blackmail the EU by refusing to extend sanctions and threatening to unfreeze Russian assets. This is obviously what angered Orbán so much.
Incidentally, another pro-Russian politician, Slovak Prime Minister Robert Fico, states that he will not support the European Commission's proposal to grant Ukraine a reparations loan from frozen Russian assets if the money is to be used for defense purposes.
