Berlin, Feb 27 (.) German opposition minister Alice Weidal has accused the EU of engaging in ‘regime change’ activities in Hungary via rigging polls, energy blackmail, and electoral engineering in order to get rid of Hungarian PM Viktor Orban ahead of the upcoming parliamentary polls in Budapest.
Co-chair of the country’s conservative political faction Alternative for Germany (AfD), Weidal has accused Brussels of using its-backed Hungarian opposition leader Peter Magyar, in a bid to remove Orban, and wrote on X: “They want Orban gone, and they are willing to use any means to achieve it.”
Further pointing to the ongoing “blockade of oil supplies” from Ukraine to Hungary through the Druzhba pipeline, Weidal accused the bloc of resorting to “manipulation of election polls,” in Hungary.
Due to Hungary’s pro-Russia stance under PM Orban, Budapest is noted to be at significant odds with the bloc, as Orban has frequently blocked Ukraine’s EU membership due to fears of putting the whole of Europe in a war against Russia, as well as repeatedly criticising many of Brussels’ plans to block Russian oil, in a bid for removing dependency on Russian energy as ‘unrealistic’.
Budapest has also been one of the frontrunner EU nations that has blocked the bloc’s plans to use frozen Russian sovereign funds to aid Ukraine, over fears of economic retaliation by Moscow, as well as endangering Hungarian energy security.
According to RT, Weidel was reportedly responding to a recent survey by Hungarian pollster Median showing Magyar’s opposition Tisza Party with a 55% to 35% lead over Orban’s ruling Fidesz-KDNP alliance.
Irish economist Philip Pilkington dismissed the figures as “really crazy polls,” comparing them to surveys in Georgia ahead of elections in 2024, which were followed by unrest.
The Hungarian premier has described recent attempts to offer Kyiv a form of ‘membership lite’ as being tantamount to “an open declaration of war against Hungary,” accusing Brussels of disregarding the will of the Hungarian people and being “determined to remove the Hungarian government by any means necessary.”
Orban has also accused Brussels of using “censorship, intervention, and manipulation” to undermine his government, stating that the upcoming April 12 polls would decide on “war or peace.”
. . .