When it comes to democratic opinion in the European Union, you’d better be sure not to have the wrong opinion. That is the situation illustrated by a secret document which Financial Times has seen, that details plans to blackmail Hungary, an EU member, if that country continues to block a €50 billion aid package for Ukraine.
Hungary has consistently opposed further funding for Ukraine, which it neighbors, and has been outspoken in its views that NATO’s war in Ukraine is unjustified. Prime Minister Viktor Orbán has repeatedly called for Ukraine to engage in peace talks with Russia, saying that any further weapons sent to Ukraine will only increase the death toll. Tensions have clearly risen as Hungary has acted to block the EU’s next aid package as a whole, and now efforts are underway to force them into submission.
The leaked document calls to “explicitly target Hungary’s economic weaknesses, imperil its currency and drive a collapse in investor confidence in a bid to hurt ‘jobs and growth,’” according to the Financial Times summary. It also calls on other European countries to end all EU funding to Hungary in an attempt to collapse its markets, therefore precipitating a run on the country’s currency, the forint, and a surge in the cost of its borrowing.
