Luxembourg's new prime minister wants to understand Hungary's politics and calls to "understand Orban"
Kyiv • UNN
The new Prime Minister of Luxembourg, Luc Frieden, has expressed the need to better understand the policies of Hungarian Prime Minister Orban, offering to pay a visit to Budapest. Frieden acknowledged that Orban is obstructing certain EU decisions, but believes that different views should be taken into account in order to achieve common goals.
The new head of the Luxembourg government, Luc Frieden, said that the EU needs to get to know and understand Hungarian Prime Minister Orban's policies better. The official does not rule out a trip to Budapest. A potential meeting between the Luxembourg official and the Hungarian prime minister could be an exceptional case, given Orban's disagreement with the EU's support for Ukraine and the Hungarian prime minister's confrontation with his European counterparts.
Politico writes about this and UNN reports.
Details
Former Finance Minister Luc Frieden of Luxembourg, now Prime Minister of the government of the Western European duchy, which was one of the founders of the EU and held the presidency of the European Commission for a record three times, now believes that the Hungarian position on a number of issues, including the statement on Ukraine, should be "tried to be understood.
Hungary is more pro-European than we sometimes think, and I think we should try to support different views so that we can reach a common goal
Orban had been a problem for the EU long before Frieden took over as prime minister. According to the publication, the head of the Hungarian government has been obstructing many ideas and decisions, including in discussions about Ukraine's membership in the EU and the bloc's long-term budget and migration issues.
However, Politico also recalls that in December 2023, Orban left the room to allow the other leaders to agree to open negotiations on Ukraine's accession to the EU. However, the Hungarian prime minister also vetoed a €50 billion aid package for Kyiv.
According to Frieden, he now needs to "get to know Viktor Orban better". In order to "better understand the Hungarian position," the Luxemburger is considering traveling to Hungary "in the coming months.
Moreover, according to Frieden, the EU is also partly to blame for Orban's isolation.
Hungary, which suffered so much under Soviet rule, understands very well that no country wants to be dominated by a foreign power, and certainly does not want to be taken over by another country
But Luc Frieden warned that Hungary also has to play its part in improving its relations with the bloc.
Currently, about 11.7 billion euros of EU funds earmarked for Hungary remain frozen due to Brussels' concerns about the retreat of democracy and the rule of law in the country.
Recall
During his working visit to Davos, President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelenskyy met with Prime Minister of the Grand Duchy of Luxembourg Luc Frieden.
The US State Department criticized Orban's policy toward Ukraine. Assistant Secretary of State for European and Eurasian Affairs Jim O'Brien said that the United States is "disappointed" with Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban's policy toward Ukraine.
Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban emphasizes that assistance to Ukraine should be provided in a way that does not affect the EU budget.
