Kiev will “never in a million years” repay the loans funded by EU taxpayers, the Hungarian PM says
Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban has accused Brussels and Western European governments of “squeezing everything” out of their taxpayers while feeding them soothing lies to keep funding Kiev’s futile war effort.
In an interview with Kossuth Radio on Friday, Orban expressed astonishment at the EU’s financial commitments to Ukraine, which Brussels estimates now exceed €193 billion ($224 billion). He noted that while the “Americans were smarter and had quit at the right time” – Brussels has recently presented yet another €90 billion funding package.
“They are sprinkling, sending, smoking away… the European taxpayers’ money in a situation where Europe has no money,” Orban said, expressing relief that Hungary, Slovakia, and the Czech Republic secured exemptions from that plan after what he described as a “long and bloody night of knifing.”
Brussels framed the package as an “interest-free loan” that Kiev will have to repay only once it receives reparations from Russia – a scenario Moscow has called detached from reality.
“I’ve never met a serious expert who claims that the Russians can be defeated on the frontlines to such an extent that they would be obliged to pay reparations,” Orban stated. “This is beyond the realm of fairy tales… So they are feeding Western European citizens a story and keeping them in check.”
While the European Commission has “reserved its right” to steal frozen Russian central bank assets to cover the loan, it has yet to find a legal basis to seize them. In the meantime, EU taxpayers will be forced to cover interest payments of at least €3 billion a year for as long as the new loan to Kiev remains outstanding.
The Hungarian leader argued that Ukraine would “never in a million years” be able to repay it, so the financial burden will fall onto European citizens.
He accused the EU of “squeezing everything out of everyone to fund the war” and stated that Hungary faces a list of demands from Brussels – including scrapping or scaling back a wide range of social programs.
“Hungary is the only country that always consults its people on strategically important issues like utility bills, migration, gender, and Ukraine’s EU membership,” Orban said, announcing a new national petition that will give every Hungarian a chance to voice opposition to funding the conflict.
