‘A boring joke’: Orban responds to EU Parliament call to cut funds to Hungary

Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban has said the European Parliament’s call to cut funds to Hungary is a “boring joke.”

A large majority of European Union lawmakers voted on Thursday to condemn damage to democracy in Hungary under Mr Orban, in power since 2010, stepping up pressure on the bloc to cut funding for the country.

“As far as the EU parliament decision is concerned, we think it is in the domain of joke. We are not laughing because it is a boring joke,” Mr Orban said through a translator after meeting Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic.

“They [the EU lawmakers] are doing this to amuse themselves. We do not pay attention to it.”

Citing corruption risks, the European Commission is expected to recommend later this week suspending billions earmarked for Budapest from the bloc’s €1.1 trillion shared budget for 2021-27.

That would be the first such EU move under its new financial sanction dubbed “cash for democracy” and agreed two years ago precisely in response to Mr Orban, as well as his allies in Poland, rowing back on liberal democratic tenets inside the bloc.

Giorgia Meloni, likely to be Italy’s next prime minister after elections this month, supported Mr Orban over the issue,

Ms Meloni is widely expected to lead a conservative alliance, including her own Brothers of Italy party, the League and Forza Italia, to victory in the September 25th ballot and give the country its most right-wing administration since the second World War.

Both the Brothers of Italy and the League have close ties to Mr Orban and rallied to his side on Thursday.

Ms Meloni said Mr Orbannow may now move closer to Russian president Vladimir Putin.

“The intelligent choice would be to bring European nations closer together rather than push them apart,” she told Rai radio. “We cannot give allies to our adversaries.” — Reuters