BUDAPEST: Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban, gearing up for a tough election in April, said on Friday he would launch a \u201cnational petition\u201d seeking backing for his policy of \u200brejecting EU funding for neighboring Ukraine as it fights a Russian invasion.<\/p>\n
With the war showing no sign of ending and Hungary\u2019s economy stagnating, Orban has framed the election as a choice between war and peace, portraying Ukraine as undeserving of support and his government as the only safeguard against conflict and economic spillover.<\/p>\n
Since last year, election billboards \u200cfor Orban\u2019s \u200cFidesz party have sought to associate \u200copposition \u2060leader \u200bPeter Magyar with \u200cBrussels and Ukraine, suggesting that voting for his Tisza party means voting for tanks and war.<\/p>\n
Orban\u2019s campaign primarily targets rural voters and echoes his past anti-migrant campaigns as most polls show Fidesz trailing Tisza.<\/p>\n
Details of the \u201cpetition\u201d were unclear, but it appeared to amount to an informal referendum, in the form \u2060of a ballot paper sent to citizens.<\/p>\n
\u201cEverybody will get this (national petition) and \u200cwill get the chance to say \u2018no\u2019 and \u200dto say, together with the \u200dgovernment, that we will not pay,\u201d Orban told state \u200dradio on Friday, accusing the opposition of being pro-Ukraine.<\/p>\n
Orban said, without citing any evidence, that the European Union would put pressure on Hungary to send its young people to fight in Ukraine, \u201cand there \u200bis rightful fear that pro-Ukrainian forces would give in to pressure from Brussels.\u201d<\/p>\n
Magyar has said Tisza \u2060supports peace in Ukraine, rejects the idea of conscription, and will not support any escalation in the war.<\/p>\n
The European Commission on Wednesday put forward its proposal to loan Ukraine 90 billion euros.<\/p>\n
In December, when the plan was sealed, Hungary, Slovakia and the Czech Republic agreed as long as it did not affect them financially.<\/p>\n
A survey in December by Policy Solutions and Zavecz Research indicated growing opposition in Hungary to EU funding for Ukraine. In 2023, 57 percent were in favor and \u200c41 percent opposed but, by last year, only 36 percent were in favor, with 63 percent against.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
BUDAPEST: Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban, gearing up for a tough election in April, said on Friday he would launch a \u201cnational petition\u201d seeking backing for his policy of \u200brejecting EU funding for neighboring Ukraine as it fights a Russian invasion. With the war showing no sign of ending and Hungary\u2019s economy stagnating, Orban has […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":525952,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-525936","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-world"},"yoast_head":"\n