Ireland’s Prime Minister Micheál Martin spoke at length about Hungary and how the European Union should act against the Hungarian government’s vetoes in an interview to Euronews. The Fianna Fáil politician also condemned the ban on the Pride march in Hungary.
“We are very concerned about that in Hungary in terms of the undermining of the LGBTI community, the banning of pride parades. These are very fundamental issues that the European Union has to engage with.”
The prime minister said the Orbán government’s anti-European rhetoric is negatively shaping public opinion.
“If I look at the Hungarian government’s rhetoric towards Europe, it’s about conquering Europe or taking it over. I think, it is inflaming public opinion in a very negative way,” he said.
Martin added that most Europeans like EU membership, freedom of speech and a regulated common market, while the world beyond Europe is sinking. He said this meant standing up for European values and emphasising a positive narrative.
The prime minister said that all means must be used
“I think we have many instruments at our disposal [to deal with the position of Hungary],” Martin said, adding: “The Article 7 procedure is one of them, but I think we should pursue all instruments. We have always accepted the unanimous voting system in some respects. But it has been abused. And the European Union will become dysfunctional if this abuse continues. So we must not be afraid to use these tools.”
The Article 7 procedure was launched years ago at the request of the European Parliament. But sanctions have not yet been taken by the Council because the procedure has not reached that stage.
The latest abuse of the veto by Hungary concerns Ukraine’s membership, Martin said. Hungary was the only country to oppose the acceptance of aid to Ukraine at the last two EU summits, and is also opposed to Ukraine’s accession. Orbán believes that this could bankrupt the EU. In Hungary, the government is holding a referendum to ask people’s opinion on Ukraine’s membership.
“It’s outrageous what’s happening at the moment. In my view, it’s essential that Ukraine becomes a member of the European Union for geopolitical reasons. And I think Europe probably missed opportunities over the last decade or two in terms of the Western Balkans as well,” said Martin.
“Orbán is, in my opinion, using this [the veto] unreasonably.” said Martin, adding that “Europe has made several attempts to unblock it through mediation”.
“The same has happened with the European Peace Facility, where Ireland’s support to Ukraine has been slowed down. We’ve contributed non-lethal finance to that now hasn’t been used. Now we’re providing that to Ukraine on a bilateral basis,” he said.
The European Peace Facility was set up before the outbreak of Russia’s all-out war in Ukraine in 2021 to fund conflict prevention abroad. After the war broke out, the fund was used to try to reimburse individual member states for military aid to Ukraine.
Journalist • Shona Murray
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