Budapest
Otherwise as you might think, Hungary is still a clearly pro-EU country – at least if you look at the measurements made in all member states, which asked people’s opinions about the EU.
The people seem more positive than their decision-makers. The Hungarian government’s relationship with the European Union has been strained since Russia invaded Ukraine a year ago and the prime minister Viktor Orbán was elected again for a new term as prime minister in April 2022.
The government has, among other things, started a massive campaign in Hungary against EU sanctions. In Brussels, Hungary has still agreed to all decisions of the member states that required unanimity, although often only after long negotiations.
Before the Hungarian elections, defiant talk of “Huxit”, i.e. Hungary’s possible exit from the EU, was heard from government circles. The country’s finance minister Mihály Varga said at the time that Hungary may have to consider membership again at the end of the decade when, according to forecasts, the country starts to pay more into the EU budget than it receives.
“For Hungary, leaving the EU would be a disaster. Foreign investors would leave immediately and the value of the forint would collapse. The majority of voters are still in favor of the EU, including the voters of the ruling party Fidesz”, says the historian interviewed by HS Krisztián Ungváry.
Lately, the EU resignation talks have not been played around.
“If Hungary did the same as Britain, everything would only get worse here. It would be bad for Hungary if we lost the support of the rest of Europe”, someone sitting in a cafe after school Livia says.
Annalisa (left) and Livia are in high school and are already planning further studies. “We are looking for suitable universities in Europe, maybe in Amsterdam. The level of education in Hungary has weakened and it really affects people our age. It’s easier to go abroad because of EU membership,” says Annalisa.
HS asked the residents of the capital Budapest in February what they think about the EU. Favorability was visible in a small sample, as well as the fact that political opinions are preferred to be expressed only by first name.
Budapest is not the whole of Hungary, but more educated and international than the rest of the country. The ruling party Fidesz does not do as well there as in the countryside – even the current mayor of Budapest is from the green party Párbeszéd.
“The EU sometimes works slowly because the joint decisions of the 27 countries are difficult. But it’s a great build, even if I don’t agree with everything. If there was a referendum on EU membership, I would vote to remain,” Dénes Balogh says.
Dénes Balogh, who is exercising in the park on the Pest side, says that based on the actions of the Hungarian government, EU money seems to be suitable, even if nothing else is. “And I don’t just mean subsidies, but everything that comes with membership, for example German car factories.”
It’s okay99, sits in the sun at the monument to Soviet soldiers in Freedom Square.
“Intelligent people in Hungary want to belong to the EU. Those who have been dumbed down by propaganda are against it. Hungarians came to Europe from Asia and don’t want to go back there,” says Jenö.
Jenö (in the background with a stick) says that he feels completely European. “Half of Hungarians seem to think that Orbán is the best thing that has happened to Hungary. Old women kiss his hand. It’s as if people are living in chaos.”
The freshest made in January 2023 according to the Eurobarometer poll Hungarians’ attitudes towards the EU have recently become more negative, but are still not far behind the EU average.
54 percent of Hungarians are optimistic about the future of the EU, while the average of EU citizens was 62 percent. In Finland, 73 percent of those interviewed are optimists.
89 percent of Hungarians agree that all member states should follow the basic principles of the EU, i.e. respect fundamental rights and the rule of law. It is fully in line with the EU average.
European Union triggered after the Hungarian elections a conditionality mechanism in which Hungary could lose part of the funding coming from the EU, unless it improves the fight against corruption and makes changes to the functioning of its judiciary. The government is now making reforms in the face of necessity.
The public and also private media channels under Fidesz’s sphere of influence mainly bring out negative news about the EU – for example, the EU Parliament’s corruption scandal received a jubilant reception in the mainstream media. We are blamed, and ourselves are even worse!
“The government accepts the money coming from the EU, but the same rules don’t apply,” says the two-year-old Lena grazing in the park Frizzle says.
“The government works in Brussels differently than it says at home. Here, people are trusted with anything. When ordinary people are told long enough who the enemy is, they will eventually believe it,” says Gábor Földes, 70, who works in a frame shop.
of the EU negative ones despite the messages, Hungarians value membership. The Eurobarometer asked about the benefits of EU membership, and three things rose clearly above the EU average in Hungary: Hungarians believe that the EU has increased economic growth, offered new job opportunities and improved the standard of living.
Even the government knows the people’s positive attitudes: its ministers prefer to talk about “Brussels” than the EU. Brussels has become somewhat synonymous with perverse regulation, the EU, on the other hand, has a more neutral tone.
The Hungarian government’s poster campaign against EU sanctions can be seen everywhere in Budapest. According to the government, 97 percent of Hungarians say no to sanctions. The result is based on a survey which, according to Hungarian media, was answered by 1.4 million people, or about 17 percent of Hungarians of voting age.
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