Prime Minister Viktor Orbán said that when sanctions were imposed on Russia at the beginning of the summer, European bureaucrats pledged they would hurt Russia rather than the people of Europe. Since then, he said, it has become obvious that they are causing more harm to Europe than to Russia.
According to Magyar Nemzet online, PM Orbán told a meeting of the ruling Fidesz and Christian Democratic parties that a political opportunity to review the sanctions would arise in November. Slamming Hungary’s leftist parties, PM Orbán said they supported the sanctions. “The Gyurcsány era and its representatives, who have destroyed Hungary before, are now working to return,” the paper quoted Orbán as saying. Referring to a recent announcement by former prime minister Ferenc Gyurcsány’s Democratic Coalition party, PM Orbán said its shadow government was supported by “Brussels bureaucrats and NGOs of George Soros”. “They are the paymasters, they did this in the election campaign and that is what they are doing now,” he said.
Meanwhile, PM Orbán said the ruling parties would need to ensure energy supplies, and protect families and jobs. Families are supported through a cap on household energy bills, as well as separate programmes to help them with firewood and coal, while small and medium-sized businesses could benefit from programmes to help them with energy costs, he said, adding that service providers will receive government support as part of a new job protection action plan. PM Orbán insisted that Hungary’s energy supplies were secure. “There is sufficient natural gas, there is electricity and we have oil,” PM Orbán said. “Sanctions have done serious damage to the country, but through hard work, we can create a chance for Hungary to come out of the crisis as a country that can overtake in the bend,” PM Orbán said.
Photo credit: Magyar Nemzet / Miniszterelnöki Sajtóiroda