Josep Borrell after Orbán's speech: no one obliges Hungary to be a member of the European Union

In his speech on 23 October, Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán once again criticized Brussels, likening the EU to the Soviet Union and saying that "fortunately Brussels is not Moscow. Moscow was a tragedy, Brussels is just a contemporary parody gone wrong". Our summary and analysis of the main points made by the Hungarian Prime Minister in his speech may be found here.

The news of the Brussels bashing has also reached the European Union's High Representative for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy, Josep Borrell. He reacted by saying that there was no similarity between the Soviet invasion of Budapest and the way the EU operates. Borrell responded to the speech at the Europe and Peace conference, and was quoted by the World Congress of Ukraine, Euronews reports.

“Frankly, I do not see any similarity between the Soviet occupation of Budapest and what is happening in Berlaymont [the building in Brussels where the headquarters of the European Commission is located – ed.]. I didn’t see a single tank there. No one obliges Hungary to be a member of the EU" – Borrel said.

According to a Eurobarometer survey conducted earlier this year, support for the EU has declined in Hungary, especially among young people. The report also showed that 39 percent of Hungarians had a positive opinion of the EU at the time – which is 6 percentage points below the EU average.

42 percent of Hungarian respondents had a neutral opinion on the European Union, while 19 percent had a negative opinion. The drop in Hungarian approval of the EU is mainly due to a change of opinion among young people, according to the report. This might be due to the fact that it was while the survey was being conducted, that the news emerged that universities which have been been restructured into being foundation-run are no longer eligible to apply for EU grants, the move also including Erasmus scholarships. This change affects almost three quarters of Hungarian university students.