Kövér: Hungary could leave the EU

Christian Keszthelyi

If the European Union wants to dictate to Hungary, then the country should consider slowly backing out of the union, Parliamentary Speaker and Fidesz MP László Kövér said today, according to Hungarian online daily origo.hu.

Kövér reportedly said that, if Brussels wants to tell a country how it should be governed, then it resembles Moscow before the change of regime, according to the report. The speaker reportedly said that, if this is the direction the EU takes, then Hungary should consider leaving the union. But according to origo.hu, Kövér said this is only “a nightmare” scenario, and he doubts it would come to that. The speaker was quoted as saying that the EU and NATO are not the problem, but rather that the “Euroatlantic world is shaken in a moral sense”.

According to the house speaker, since the end of communism, the governments and financial leaders of some Western countries believe they can do everything.

Kövér’s speech drew immediate fire from opposition parties and politicians. E-PM urged Hungary’s Prime Minister Viktor Orbán “to discipline” Kövér, as his opinion hurts the international interests of all Hungarian citizens. Furthermore, E-PM said, the time has come for the prime minister to announce whether Hungary’s future lies in an alliance with Moscow or Brussels.

The Hungarian Liberal Party considers Kövér’s speech to be a “serious mistake”, especially at a time when the U.S. withdrew the travel visas of Hungarian officials and Germany has apparently sent a warning that it could use its economic power over Hungary.