There is great potential for close cooperation between the two countries in the defense field.Continue reading
Ukraine’s forced accession to the EU would consume the resources needed to address all the other challenges facing the European Union and would severely weaken Hungary’s strategic position, Balázs Orbán stressed. The Prime Minister’s political director pointed out that the country’s full integration would cost around €2,500 billion spread over several years, which is 12 times the EU’s budget this year.
Speaking at the Economx Money Talks 25 business conference in Budapest on Monday, Balázs Orbán highlighted that the cost of rebuilding Ukraine is huge: conservative estimates put the cost at $500 billion, while Ukrainian sources put it at up to €1,000 billion. In addition, keeping the country running would cost $100 billion a year, which would also be largely covered by the EU, he said.
He noted that
since the Hungarian opposition has put Ukraine’s accession on its agenda, the ‘Votes 2025’ national consultation has become one of the most important economic and strategic decisions for the coming years.
According to Balázs Orbán, the European Commission wants Ukraine’s fast-track accession to the EU to be completed before the end of the 2029 cycle and Hungary is the only country that can prevent this in the European Council.
On the election of US President Donald Trump, he said that it clearly showed that the neoliberal world order has come to an end, which has taught us many lessons, the most important of which is that the economy is still organized on a national basis. He added that Western economic policy had fallen into its own trap: over-regulation, fiscal self-limitation and the outsourcing of industrial capacity had weakened both national sovereignty and economic performance.
To succeed in the coming new world order, we will need a strong state, renewed industrial capacity and technological autonomy, backed by strategic flexibility,”
emphasized Balázs Orbán.
Another lesson of the US president’s success is that foreign policy based on purely moral foundations has failed. As the Prime Minister’s political director recalled, the approach of Hungarian foreign policy is that what is morally right is what serves the security and stability of the whole community.
Balázs Orbán mentioned that an important lesson was that without military force, it is not possible to become a global political factor. After the Cold War, Europe reduced its defense spending as a percentage of GDP from 3 percent to 1.5 percent, while in the United States this ratio has barely changed. Europe has outsourced its own defense, the transatlantic balance has been upset, he said, adding that Europe’s defense capabilities must be strengthened.
The politician emphasized that
the emerging world order has several strategic advantages for Hungary, including the fact that “the end of the neo-liberal world order, which previously significantly limited Hungary’s ability to act, marks a historic turnaround”.
The Hungarian response, he said, is the connectivity strategy, which aims to build a functioning, strategic relationship with all centers of power.
Regarding the tariffs dispute between the US and Europe, Balázs Orbán underlined that there will be an agreement. He added that in the meantime, the government is working to strengthen bilateral economic cooperation with the United States, and an announcement on this is expected soon. The weakening of the EU’s competitiveness must be halted, energy cooperation with Russia must be restarted, and the tariff war with China and the United States must be ended, he concluded.
Via MTI, Featured photo via MTI/Kovács Attila
