State secretary: Hungary won’t compromise on its sovereignty

In a post on Facebook, Barna Pal Zsigmond said that “the federalist majority in the European Parliament voted to strengthen the powers of institutions in Brussels as a result of which the nation states, above all the small central European countries, will not be able to have a say when it comes to taking decisions on important matters”.

The leftist MEPs, supported by their Hungarian peers, demand scrapping unanimous decision-making which would also scrap the option of a veto, he said, adding that they “would bypass member states such as Hungary that want to represent the interests of their own nation, their own people”.

Consensus-based decision-making has always been “the core and the fundamental principle” of the EU, a guarantee of the equality and sovereignty of member states, the state secretary said.

Hungary “believes” in an integration based on equal member states, whereas Brussels envisions a federalist European superstate with lesser powers held by nation states, Zsigmond said.

“What Brussels wants is that member states should not take decisions on their own defence policy, migration policy, tax system or foreign policy issues,” he said, outlining a proposal submitted by the left to the EP.

The plan, if adopted, would require Hungary to scrap its utility subsidies, the freeze on interest rates, the windfall profit tax and the child protection law, and it would “force us to take in and finance the living of illegal immigrants”, he said. Hungary could not have a say on Ukraine’s EU integration and on sending additional funds and weapons to the war [in Ukraine], the state secretary said.

He called it important for Hungarians “to state a clear opinion” about the protection of national sovereignty in the ongoing National Consultation survey.