Gergely Gulyás, the head of the Prime Minister's Office, said Hungary rejects attempts to create a uniform Europe but sees no alternative other than to remain a member of the EU and NATO.
“There’s no doubt that one aim of the change in political system [in 1989-1990] was to become a member of the European Union and NATO,” Gulyás said in an interview with Magyar 7, a Hungarian weekly in Slovakia. “However many disappointments there have been … there’s no better alternative.” Hungary seeks cooperation with like-minded countries in terms of outlook and values and gives strong backing to central European cooperation and the Visegrad Group, he said. The disputes between Brussels and Budapest speak to a difference in worldview, he said. “Brussels has long given up basic rule-of-law principles,” he said. The European Commission, he added, did not provide arguments based on EU law but doled out instructions or political demands. “This poses a massive threat to the European Union,” he said. If the commission, as the guardian of the EU treaties, does not protect them, it will cause irreparable damage, he said. The EU may be “torn apart sooner or later” owing to basic differences of approach, he said, adding that a way must be found to keep Europe together institutionally and politically while accepting and respecting social differences.