Orban the opponent splits Europe once again. The Hungarian president once again emphasizes his conservative and pro-Putin positions. At the European Council, he tweeted his manifesto on citizens’ rights: “The Hungarian position is clear and simple: no to immigration, no to gender, no to war!”. And he uses block letters for the three no’s. He also attaches a photo to the tweet, in which he is seen speaking with the UN secretary general Antonio Guterres, with the president of the EU Commission Ursula von der Leyen and with the president of Cyprus Nikos Christodoulides. Behind him, Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni.
He does not fail to reiterate his distance from the European and Western line in the Ukrainian conflict: “We would not arrest Putin if he set foot on our territory,” explained Gergely Gulyás, head of the prime minister’s cabinet. Although Budapest has joined the International Criminal Court, the treaty “has not yet been promulgated” because it is “contrary to the Constitution”. The arrest warrant, added Gulyàs, is “unfortunate” because it further hinders the end of the war.
The International Criminal Court: “Budapest cannot fail to join”
But, according to a spokesman for the ICC, Hungary “ratified the treaty in 2001” and has “the obligation to cooperate with the Court in the framework of the Rome Statute”. A new front that adds to the very delicate one of the war, where all attempts at mediation to reach a resolution are bogged down, and where the Ukrainian leader Zelensky does not accept a ceasefire, which gives Russia the right to reclaim the conquered lands with bombs in the last year. Therefore, if Putin were to arrive in Budapest, at this point the CPI arrest warrant would not be valid.
And then, among the opposing positions taken by Orban, there is the Swedish chapter in NATO: the Swedish premier, Ulf Kristersson, announces that he will ask the Hungarian prime minister the reasons for the delay in giving the green light to Stockholm’s accession to the Alliance Atlantic, and “why are they separating Sweden from Finland”. “I have respect, as I’ve always said, because each country makes its own decisions, but of course I’m going to raise this with Orban today,” Kristersson said.
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