Gergely Gulyás, Head of the Prime Minister’s Office, said on Wednesday that voter interest in the government’s Vote 2025 referendum on Ukraine’s European Union accession is "unprecedentedly high", with more than 2 million people having returned their questionnaires, noting that the vote runs until midnight on Friday.
Gulyás told a regular government press briefing that with the referendum coming to a close, Prime Minister Viktor Orbán will be able to represent a national position at next week's EU summit that reflects its outcome.
He said the Vote 2025 ballot would have the highest or second-highest response rate of all National Consultation public surveys so far, adding that the response rate was also twice as high as in the opposition Tisza Party's survey on the topic earlier this year.
Gulyás underscored the importance of the vote, saying that the matter of whether the EU would suspend all existing regulations to force Ukraine into the bloc would have a fundamental impact on Hungary's future.
He said the opposition Democratic Coalition (DK) and Tisza Party were "pro-Ukrainian parties" that backed Ukraine's EU entry.
Gulyás said that despite Tisza MEP Zoltan Tarr and DK having called the vote "pointless", the government believed that voters should be the ones to decide on this issue.
He said Tisza and DK were not expected to express any other position on the matter because "unlimited support for Ukraine" was a requirement for membership in "their parent parties, the Socialists and Democrats and the European People’s Party, respectively".
The Hungarian government believes that it should be the Hungarian voters, rather than "foreign party elites" that decide on this issue, Gulyás said.
Hungarians have until midnight on Friday to mail back the questionnaires or vote online, he said, adding that the result would be published as soon as possible.
Meanwhile, Gulyás said the European Commission's latest country report for Hungary was "biased".
He said the government had discussed the report at a cabinet meeting and concluded that the recommendations made by the EC were "unacceptable".
He pointed to positive conclusions and recommendations made by the EC, such as one to end an excessive deficit procedure against the country, and an acknowledgement of the government's family-friendly measures. But he said some recommendations were against the interests of Hungary, such as ones on phasing out taxes levied on multinationals, the regulated utilities price scheme for households, the rate freeze for retail borrowers and caps on markups for some food and non-food products.
All of these measures, he said, had been introduced in the interests of Hungarians and contributed to utility costs being the lowest in Europe and in multinationals "shouldering their share of the burdens". They also enable families to pay back their loans despite the increased interest rates and contribute to reducing inflation, he added.
He added that the EC's recommendation on independence from Russian energy was also "unacceptable".
Gulyás said the world was realising the effect of the Israel-Iran war on energy prices, adding that the EC proposal to ban Russian energy imports posed a "serious risk" for Europe and was a matter of energy security for central Europe.
Gulyas said it was also "unacceptable" that the EC was trying to "disguise" sanctions as a trade policy decision that does not require unanimous approval and therefore cannot be vetoed by Hungary or Slovakia.
The Hungarian government believes diversification is important, but warned against going from "unilateral dependence on one supplier to another". It would be best if Europe traded with everyone accepted the cheapest offer when it came to energy supply.
On another subject, Gulyás said Hungary's government would resist pressure from Brussels and defend the mandatory markup caps.
Commenting on the EC’s decision on Wednesday to launch infringement procedures against Hungary over the markup caps, Gulyas said it appeared that supporting Ukraine and the profits of multinationals were what was important for Brussels.
The Hungarian government must represent the interests of Hungarians and local businesses, he added.