By Stefan J. Bos, Chief International Correspondent Worthy News
BUDAPEST (Worthy News) – Hungary’s nationalist Prime Minister Viktor Orbán has accused the United States of terrorism by damaging the Nord Stream pipelines built to carry natural gas from Russia to Germany.
Speaking in Romania, he also said the European Union was sliding toward oblivion in a rambling anti-Western speech analyzed by Worthy News on Thursday in which he warned of a new, Asia-oriented “world order.”
Orbán made the comments at a time of Western concerns that Hungary establishes closer ties with Communist-run China and its ally Russia as well as with other autocratically ruled nations.
His remarks also followed confirmation that Hungary borrowed one billion euros ($1.1 billion) from Chinese banks earlier this year because the European Union member state faces a difficult financial situation.
Hungary’s economic crisis is partly due to Brussels’ refusal to unlock around 20 billion euros ($21.6 billion) in EU funds over the Central and Eastern European country’s backsliding on the bloc’s standards.
Hungary’s deficit now stands at 4.5 percent of Gross Domestic Product (GDP), above the bloc’s three percent limit.
In June, the EU’s executive European Commission opened the way for an “excessive deficit procedure” against Hungary and six other countries.
EU PRESIDENCY
Orbán — whose country took over the rotating presidency of the EU this month — has been frequently at odds with Brussels over rule-of-law issues and a perceived lack of democratic standards.
The Hungarian leader has denied wrongdoing and says he is targeted for opposing the EU’s migration policies and defending Hungary’s interests.
In his speech over the weekend in Baile Tusnad, a majority-ethnic Hungarian town in central Romania, Orbán also expressed his support for Donald J. Trump’s presidential bid.
“Europe has given up defending its own interests,” Orbán said in Baile Tusnad, a majority-ethnic Hungarian town in central Romania.
And he indirectly lashed out at the administration of outgoing U.S. President Joe Biden for attacking the Nord Stream project shortly after Russia invaded Ukraine in February 2022.
He called it “an act of terrorism carried out at the obvious direction of the Americans” without elaborating.
“All Europe is doing today is following the U.S.’s pro-Democrat foreign policy unconditionally … even at the cost of self-destruction,” he added.
However, a change is coming that has not been seen for 500 years. What we are facing is, in fact, a world order change,” he added, citing China, India, Pakistan, and Indonesia as becoming the “dominant centers” of the world.
RUSSIA ALLY
Russia is a close ally of these nations and uses them to extend its global influence.
Despite concerns about Russia’s role in Ukraine, Orbán’s government has also defended providing resident permits to Russian citizens and related documents that could give them access to the EU’s passport-free Chechen zone.
Brussels fears this policy could lead to Russian spies and other operatives entering the 27-nation EU more easily.
Several Baltic nations, who were part of the Soviet Union were among those expressing concerns about Hungary’s policies toward Russia and Belarus, a close ally of Moscow.
“Rather than learning the facts, the Baltic states have launched a campaign of lies against Hungary … over Hungary including Russian and Belorussian citizens in its National Card program,” Hungary’s Foreign Minister Péter Szijjártó said.
He said the Hungarian government’s move “does not ease strict security controls over incoming Russian and Belorussian citizens in any way.”
Copyright 1999-2024 Worthy News. This article was originally published on Worthy News and was reproduced with permission.
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