Orbán’s government will put the manipulative issue of Ukrainian grain to “national consultations”

Hungary has published a list of questions that the authorities have put up for a so-called “national consultation,” four of which are somehow related to Ukraine. The content of the questionnaire was published by the Hungarian government.

In total, 11 questions were put up for “consultation”. The questionnaires will be sent by mail starting on Friday and will reach all Hungarian voters, so “all Hungarians will be able to express their opinions on issues that fundamentally affect Hungary’s economy and security,” said Hungarian government spokeswoman Alexandra Szentkirai.

Orban’s government listed the war in Ukraine and Israel, Ukraine’s accession to the EU, as well as utility bills, interest rate freezes, the surplus tax, foreign influence on Hungarian politics, and the law on child protection as such issues.

Moreover, there are only 4 questions related to Ukraine, all of which are formulated in a manipulative manner.

Contrary to expectations, the answers are not offered in the form of “yes” or “no” but in a more detailed manner, which increases the manipulation.

In particular, the sixth question concerns the supply of weapons to Ukraine, and it is worded as follows: “Brussels wants to send more weapons to Ukraine. From the very beginning, Brussels has taken a pro-war stance… and has already spent more than 5 billion euros on the development of the Ukrainian army. And the latest proposal is to allocate another 20 billion euros to arm Ukraine.”

The response options offered by the Hungarian government are as follows: “We need a ceasefire and peace instead of arms supplies” and “More weapons purchased with EU money should be sent to the battlefield.”

Another question related to Ukraine concerns financial support and is formulated as follows: “The European Commission wants to allocate an additional 50 billion euros to support Ukraine. Since this amount is not in the current EU budget, they want to get additional funds from member states. They are asking Hungary for an additional contribution, which has not been receiving the EU money it is entitled to under the agreements for a long time. Hungary has already spent billions of forints to help refugees from Ukraine.”

The following answers are offered to this question: “We will not pay more to support Ukraine until we receive our money” or “We will support Brussels’ request, even if the money we are owed is still not paid.”

Another question concerns the start of negotiations on Ukraine’s accession to the EU and reads as follows: “There are more and more voices calling for Ukraine to become a full member of the EU even though there is a war going on. Admitting Ukraine to the EU would fundamentally disrupt the current system of (financial) support for the EU. Under the current rules, Ukraine would receive a significant share of EU funds as a full member.”

Hungarians are asked to answer this question as follows: “The conditions for Ukraine’s full membership have not yet been created” or “Ukraine’s full membership should definitely be supported.”

It is worth noting that the wording of this question has been significantly softened.

As discussed in the EuroPravda article, the original question should have read: “Do you agree that Ukraine, which is at war, should become a full-fledged member of the European Union and bring the war to your doorstep?” And there were two answers: “yes” or “no”.

And the last question about Ukraine in this questionnaire concerns Ukrainian grain, which is called “genetically modified,” and it is formulated as follows: “After the outbreak of the war, Brussels opened its borders to Ukrainian grain supplies. It was assumed that this measure would allow grain to be supplied to poorer regions of the world. But instead, a significant portion of genetically modified Ukrainian grain flooded the markets of Eastern European countries, putting producers in the region in an extremely difficult situation. Hungary has banned imports of Ukrainian grain, but Brussels still wants us to let Ukrainian GM grain in.

The answers to this question are as follows: “We must protect Hungarian farmers in every way possible and ensure that Hungarian agriculture is GMO-free” or “We must open our market to Ukrainian GM grain.”

Tags: Ukraine, grain, Hungary