The 2nd day of the war: EU sanctions, refugees from Ukraine

HUNGARY - In Brief 25 Feb 2022 by Istvan Racz
The EU Council met last night, adopting various sanctions against Russia. The details are far not fully known yet, but the outlines suggest that even though the sanctions are significant, they fell short of what the anti-Russian lobby was hoping for.Following the meeting, PM Orbán went public immediately, stressing unity within the EU and Hungary's cooperation with joint EU action. However, we know from Donald Tusk, the Polish head of the European People's Party, that the governments of Germany, Italy and Hungary blocked the way towards more serious sanctions at the meeting. ('Shame on them' said Tusk in a Twitter message.) So once again, Mr. Orbán went with the crowd but made an attempt to dilute the otherwise heavily anti-Russian joint EU effort. However, because of the presence of two big countries on his side, he cannot be singled out as the usual lonely scapegoat. By the way, the most anti-Russian views typically came from CEE members, especially the Baltic states.Very much in the same spirit, Mr. Orbán and his defence minister keep stressing publicly that the government and the national army are protecting Hungary's eastern borders together with NATO. Apparently, they intend to present themselves as a disciplined member of the western team.A new government measure is to allow all refugees from Ukraine, regardless of citizenship, to enter Hungary and receive a temporary protection status. This is important as Hungarian law is otherwise quite unfriendly to migrants, but the basic legal procedure for immigration is now temporarily suspended. Covid concerns do not count in this case. Hungary expects tens of thousands of refugees, said the defence minister yesterday, ...

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