Agreement on EU Funds Was in European Interest, Says Prime Minister’s Aide

Balázs Orbán, the Prime Minister’s political director, spoke to Index.hu about the negotiations between the Hungarian government and the European Commission on EU funds.

He said that the government had achieved partial success, but that there were still struggles ahead. He believes that the frozen conflict that emerged after the adoption of the Hungarian child protection law was not in the interest of the European Union.

Balázs Orbán recalled that “until the Hungarian parliamentary elections in April, the negotiating strategy in Brussels was not to negotiate with us. They hoped that we would not win the elections.” “Then, in the summer, after several months of delay, we were able to start substantive negotiations, trying to put aside, at least temporarily, the political disputes. This was not only in the Hungarian interest, but also in the European interest,” he continued.

According to Orbán, the European Commission, together with the left-wing, liberal, and green majority in the European Parliament wanted to prevent the agreement from being reached. “In the end, the big EU Member States put political pressure on the Commission. This is not necessarily because they agree with Hungary on political issues, but because cohesion policy in Europe cannot operate on the basis of party politics,” he said.

Thanks to this, a compromise agreement could be reached that is in line with the Hungarian national interest and has at least temporarily steered the European Union away from the abyss,”

he explained.

Orbán criticized the European Parliament on the Qatargate corruption scandal in Brussels.

The problem is the hypocrisy of accusing someone else of something they are at the forefront of,”

he noted.

Featured photo via Facebook/Orbán Balázs