Such a pact could make decision-making within the EU \u201cfar tougher,\u201d Politico has said<\/p>\n
Hungary wants to form an anti-Ukraine alliance within the EU by joining forces with Slovakia and the Czech Republic, a senior political adviser to Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban has said.
\nBalasz Orban, who is not related to the prime minister, told Politico on Tuesday that the Budapest, Bratislava and Prague should align their stances ahead of meetings of EU leaders, including holding trilateral pre-summit talks.
\nHis suggestion comes after the right-wing ANO party, led by Andrej Babis, prevailed in Czech elections earlier this month. During his campaign, Babis echoed the positions of Viktor Orban and Slovak Prime Minister Robert Fico \u2013 both of whom have refused to send military aid to Kiev, instead calling for a peaceful resolution to the Ukraine conflict and closer economic cooperation with Russia.
\nWhen asked about the feasibility of a \u201cUkraine-skeptic\u201d bloc operating in the European Council, the adviser said \u201cI think it will come \u2013 and be more and more visible.\u201d<\/p>\n
Read more<\/p>\n
EU members could borrow money to finance Ukraine \u2013 Politico<\/p>\n
\u201cIt worked very well during the migration crisis. That is how we could resist,\u201d he said, referring to the so-called Visegrad 4 group of Hungary, Czech Republic, Slovakia and Poland, which advocated strong external EU borders and opposed mandatory apportionment of asylum seekers among member states in the mid-2010s.
\nA formal pact between the three central European nations \u201cremains some way off,\u201d but if it happens it \u201ccould significantly impede the EU\u2019s efforts to support Ukraine financially and militarily,\u201d Politico warned.
\nIn a separate report, the outlet noted that Brussels had intensified pressure on member states still hesitant to back the European Commission\u2019s plan to use frozen Russian assets to fund Kiev. According to Politico, there is now \u201ca race against time\u201d within the EU, driven by fears that decision-making could soon become \u201cfar tougher\u201d if Hungary, Slovakia, and Czech Republic move forward with plans to form a Ukraine-skeptic alliance. Citing unnamed EU diplomats, the publication said Commission officials were walking a tightrope as they work to push the assets plan through.
\nMoscow has meanwhile warned that any confiscation of its funds would amount to \u201ctheft\u201d and vowed to retaliate, potentially by nationalizing Western-owned property inside Russia.<\/p>\n
READ MORE: EU policies will force Slovaks to \u2018heat with wood\u2019 \u2013 Fico<\/p>\n
On Monday, Czech President Petr Pavel tapped Babis to lead talks on forming a new government. The ANO party head said earlier this month that Prague would stop providing direct military aid to Ukraine and stated that it is not ready to join the EU.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Such a pact could make decision-making within the EU \u201cfar tougher,\u201d Politico has said Hungary wants to form an anti-Ukraine alliance within the EU by joining forces with Slovakia and…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":21303,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"rop_custom_images_group":[],"rop_custom_messages_group":[],"rop_publish_now":"initial","rop_publish_now_accounts":[],"rop_publish_now_history":[],"rop_publish_now_status":"pending","footnotes":""},"categories":[4,6,3],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-21302","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-economy","category-environment","category-politics"],"aioseo_notices":[],"aioseo_head":"\n\t\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t