Hungary says it will no longer use veto as tool of pressure on EU

Hungary's new Foreign Minister Anita Orban has said that Hungary will no longer wield its veto on European Union policy as an instrument of blackmail and will work to win back the trust of EU and NATO partners.

That is according to Bloomberg, Ukrinform reports.

"Too often Hungary has been a problem in Europe's decision-making. We used the veto not as a last resort but for political theater," she said.

Speaking at a parliamentary confirmation hearing, Orban said Prime Minister Peter Magyar's priority would be to restore access to tens of billions in European Union funding that was suspended under the previous government over rule-of-law concerns.

During the run-up to last month's election that Magyar's Tisza party won in a landslide, Viktor Orban's government used its veto to block budgetary amendments allowing a EUR 90 billion ($105 billion) EU loan to keep Ukraine in its fight against Russia's full-scale invasion.

Restoring the flow of EU funds was a key campaign promise for Tisza, and is central to hopes for reviving an economy that has barely grown in three years. Anita Orban said the government would strengthen judicial independence and improve oversight of public spending to that end.

Hungary would support Ukraine's closer integration into the EU only as a matter of "strict national interest," she said, adding that the new government would continue its predecessor's policy of demanding further rights for Ukraine's ethnic Hungarian minority.

Newly elected Hungarian Prime Minister Peter Magyar was sworn in on May 9.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky congratulated Magyar on his appointment and the start of his term as Hungary's prime minister.

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