Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán on Tuesday accused the European Union of planning to unleash “Armageddon” against his country, but Budapest did not change its position on unblocking aid to Ukraine, Politico reported.

His comments came after the Financial Times reported in an article published late last week that Brussels officials had drawn up a plan to sabotage Hungary’s economy by cutting off all EU funding to Budapest, which is set to go ahead unless Orban waives his veto. regarding the adoption of the law. a multi-year aid package to Ukraine worth 50 billion euros.

Orbán said in an interview with French weekly Le Point on Tuesday that the plan was “like a blackmailer’s manual” and that its passage would put Hungary under a “massive financial blockade”.

“Then Hungary will suffer Armageddon,” he added, adding that he had “no doubt” that the document obtained by FT journalists was genuine.

“Knowing Brussels, they are capable of this,” Viktor Orban also said. He was the only head of the EU government who in December voted against the adoption of a large-scale aid package for Ukraine from the European Commission, de facto blocking the measure due to Hungary’s veto.

The aid package was supposed to use funds from the EU’s multiannual budget, which means it must be unanimously approved by the bloc’s member states.

Viktor Orban complains that he is left alone in the EU

“Nothing has changed” regarding Hungary’s position on this issue, Viktor Orbán insisted in an interview with French media.

“Hungary as a sovereign state opposes this amendment to the budget. They try to convince us, then they pressure us, then they blackmail us to force us to join them,” he said, lamenting that “it’s very difficult to be alone in this family.”

The document, obtained by the FT, shows that officials in Brussels have drawn up a strategy aimed at clearly tackling the weaknesses of the Hungarian economy, threatening the stability of the forint and causing a drop in investor confidence to damage jobs and the economy. growth if Orbán continues to use his veto to block aid to Ukraine.

The document states that “in case of failure to reach an agreement [summitul de] On February 1, other heads of state and government will publicly state that, given the non-constructive behavior of the Prime Minister of Hungary (…) they cannot imagine that Budapest will be offered EU funds.

In the absence of European funds, “financial markets and European and international companies may be less interested in investing in Hungary,” the document also notes, adding that such a fine “may cause a rapid increase in the cost of financing the government deficit and a fall in the Hungarian currency.

The European Commission denied the existence of such a plan and stated that the document in the Financial Times is an “explanatory note” that describes the current state of the Hungarian economy and does not reflect the state of negotiations on the revision of the EU budget to include aid to Ukraine.

Hungary and Ukraine announced the creation of a bilateral commission to resolve differences

EU relations minister János Boca, contacted by the Financial Times on Sunday to comment on Brussels’ plan to sabotage Hungary’s economy, said he was not aware of such a threat but that Budapest was “not under pressure”. “.

But Balazs Orbán, the Hungarian prime minister’s chief political adviser, said early Monday that Budapest had sent a proposal to Brussels as early as Saturday, showing a willingness to approve the use of the EU budget to help Ukraine under certain conditions.

“Brussels is using blackmail against Hungary like there is no tomorrow, despite the fact that we offered a compromise,” Baláš wrote on his account on the social media platform “X”, formerly Twitter.

Viktor Orbán’s comments, published by Le Point on Tuesday, came just a day after his foreign minister, Peter Szijjártó, made his first visit to Ukraine since the start of Russia’s invasion of the neighboring country, pushing for greater rights for the Hungarian minority.

His Ukrainian colleague Dmytro Kuleba said that the parties agreed to create a bilateral commission to resolve within ten days the differences between the two sides regarding the issue of the Hungarian minority in Ukraine.

Follow the latest events of the 706th day of the war in Ukraine LIVETEXT on HOTNEWS.RO.