Hungary started the war year better than others. Now inflation is rising, growth and forint are falling.
Budapest. Hungary’s national-populist government protests against the EU. “The Brussels sanctions are ruining us,” has been the proclamation in Budapest since last week on countless posters depicting the unpopular EU sanctions against Russia as bombs. The action comes from the government, which is trying to distract from its own responsibility.
“Do you agree to the sanctions that are responsible for the rise in food prices?” is one of the leading questions on the questionnaires for the “National Consultation” that have been fluttering back into the mailboxes of Hungarians these days. The EU is once again serving as a scapegoat for the political leadership under Viktor Orbán. The EU sanctions following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine were all approved by Hungary’s vote. “Why did the head of government vote for the sanctions if he thinks they are so harmful?” scoffs the newspaper “Népszava”. Since February 23, a total of 20 Council resolutions have been passed in Brussels for the eight packages of sanctions against Russia. In fact, Hungarian government officials were present at all these decisions and voted in favour. Orbán doesn’t want to hear about that anymore today. He describes the decisions as an undemocratic product of the Brussels bureaucracy.