Will The EU Teach Orbán And Fico A Lesson?

The political scientist speaks about Brussels' option to deprive Hungary of its veto power.

The EU is ready for harsh action if Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán continues to block the aid package to Ukraine, Bloomberg writes. Can Budapest be deprived of the right to vote?

Charter97.org asked Grigorij Mesežnikov, Slovak political analyst and president of the Institute for Public Affairs (IVO) (Bratislava) about this:

— I think, yes, such a procedure is developed. Now the European Union will have to communicate with Hungary on this topic in some way and make a specific warning, after which Viktor Orbán will already know how his position can affect Hungary's status in the EU. It is unclear how everything will be arranged, but such an option is envisaged.

So far, this paragraph has not yet been put into effect and no country was deprived of the right to vote. If this happens, it will be a serious step that could affect the current government of Slovakia as well.

Prime Minister Robert Fico also speaks strangely about Ukraine, the farther, the worse. Recently, his anti-Ukrainian rhetoric has noticeably intensified, including the advice to Ukraine to make territorial concessions, and the statement that Ukraine is allegedly a non-independent state controlled by the United States.

But the answer to this has already appeared, the Ukrainian embassy in Slovakia made a critical statement. Tomorrow there should be a meeting between Fico and Denis Shmyhal [Prime Minister of Ukraine — ed.]. It will happen in Uzhhorod, I think there were different reasons why Fico did not want to go to Kyiv, not only related to security but also politics. In the last few days, there have been suggestions in Slovakia that the Ukrainian side could cancel this meeting, but so far this has not happened. By the way, there will be no press conference following the results.

So if the European Commission now begins to deal with Hungary precisely from the perspective of its anti-Ukrainian policy, then this will be a very unpleasant signal for Fico, from his point of view.

— Should we wait for the "orbanization" of Slovakia or does the country have a stock of counteraction to these processes?

— Of course, there is a stock of counteraction, and it is quite strong. Now mass demonstrations against the policy of the current government are held every week in Slovakia. The main content of these demonstrations is a protest against the attempts of the Fico government to undermine the rule of law in Slovakia, foreign policy has not yet been particularly voiced there. The day after tomorrow will be the next demonstration. Fico's attitude towards Ukraine, his statements and his steps in the field of foreign policy may already be discussed there.

But the fact that he will try to concentrate his power is quite obvious, the process has already begun. Government officials proceed from the fact that they have a majority in the parliament and they will be able to push through all the amendments that they are now adopting.

The opposition is also quite active in the parliament, trying to counteract the government coalition. Here they call it an obstruction, but in fact it is a filibuster process, when some part of the deputies decide to use the discussion mechanism to delay the discussion as long as possible to postpone the decision to a later date. There is such a mechanism, but the government coalition is trying in every way to limit such a discussion. Representatives of the ruling coalition introduce night meetings, who wants to speak — please speak, but only at night.

But the rules that determine the work of the parliament have the status of a constitutional law, they cannot be changed so easily. There is a margin of safety for democracy in Slovakia, including civil society, independent media, and the opposition. Again, I repeat, the Fico government will try to push through its laws at any cost, but the reaction of the European Union may come to this. All Fico is saying so far is rhetoric, but that doesn't mean he won't dare to make that rhetoric a reality at some point.

If the European Commission begins to deal with the practical implementation of the issue of depriving Hungary of the right to vote, then maybe Fico will come to his senses.

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