Orban wants to blackmail Ukraine's accession to the EU to get money from Brussels, opposition politician says

One of the reasons why the Hungarian authorities are blocking Ukraine's integration into the European Union is the desire to blackmail money from Brussels, said for the LIGA.net's text Hungarian opposition politician Márton Tompos.

He noted that Hungary is the only EU country that has not received funds from the bloc for 3.5 years (Brussels has frozen EUR 18 billion for Hungary due to violations of democracy and the rule of law), as the government of prime Minister Viktor Orbán used this time to build authoritarianism.

Tompos added that one of the goals of Hungary's blocking of Ukraine's European integration is to get money from Brussels through blackmail without the need to restore the rule of law.

At the same time, the politician added that EU funds could become a bargaining chip, but there is almost no chance that Orbán will support Ukraine's membership in the bloc.

• In August, the Hungarian government banned the commander of the Armed Forces Unmanned Systems Force, Robert (Magyar) Brovdi, from entry to the Schengen area after successful Ukrainian strikes on the Russian Druzhba oil pipeline. In response to the actions of the Orbán government, Tompos said that he considers Brovdi a hero and opened a collection for the Magyar Birds unit. Read more about the new confrontation between Kyiv and Budapest in the text by LIGA.net.