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Η σαρωτική νίκη του Péter Magyar στην Ουγγαρία - ποιος ο αντίκτυπος στις Βρυξέλλες;

Σε αυτή τη νέα έκδοση του The Ring, που μεταδίδεται από το Ευρωπαϊκό Κοινοβούλιο στις Βρυξέλλες, οι ευρωβουλευτές Daniel Freund (Πράσινοι) και Sander Smit (ECR) συζητούν για το αποτέλεσμα των ουγγρικών εκλογών και τι σημαίνει αυτό για την Ευρώπη.

ΔΙΑΒΑΣΤΕ ΕΠΙΣΗΣ : http://gr.euronews.com/2026/04/16/h-sarwtikh-nikh-toy-peter-magyar-sthn-oyggaria-poios-o-antiktypos-stis-bry3elles

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03:29όπως πώς και πολύ και σκληρύνται Βκτή Orban συμβαίνει.
03:33Γιατί είχε κάποιο φορά ότι δεν θα έτσι μόνονται,
03:37αλλά όμως έτσι...
03:38Μετά είναι απλά...
03:39Υπάρχει, αλλά όμως, αυτό είναι υπέροχο.
03:43Ήταν εκεί στη Budapest στον πρώτη,
03:45και βλέπουμε άνθρωποι άφησαν,
03:48φύγονται, χωρίζουν, όμως,
03:50μιλανόντας το αρχιόμαστος της Μαφιάς.
03:52Ήταν ένα μεγάλο σημαντικό για την Ελλάδα.
03:54Ενώ το Μαφιάς, αυτοί, αυτοί.
03:55I think that we shouldn't polarise too much.
03:57We can still see that democracy and democratic values within the Hungarian people,
04:03society and even state institutions survived, were upheld.
04:07Orbán clearly conceded his loss.
04:10And I think we shouldn't now overdo all the speculation beforehand.
04:14I was a bit worried by certain left-wing politicians polarising before the elections.
04:20I think that could have harmed the outcome of Tisha, the electoral result in the end.
04:24But the Hungarian people were, I think, independent enough and sovereign enough
04:29to decide on their own fate.
04:31I have to ask you this one more on Viktor Orbán before we move on.
04:34Over the last past years, he has become the boogeyman in the European Union.
04:38But he wasn't all that bad.
04:40I mean, in 90% of the cases, he always voted with the European Council.
04:45So are we now going back to business?
04:47Well, it's a bit saying 90% he voted with the others.
04:50Yeah, whenever his vote didn't matter, but where it did matter on the unanimous decisions.
04:56I mean, I asked the Parliament Research Service before the elections to give me the numbers.
05:00And Orbán has vetoed more than pretty much everyone else combined.
05:04Every single unanimous decision we have taken in the last years.
05:08First, we get a veto from Viktor Orbán and he demands concessions.
05:12He blackmails the Union.
05:12So I think we have never seen anything like him in the history of the European Union.
05:18Right.
05:18Sander, do you agree?
05:19I mean, after all, pronouncing a veto, that's his right.
05:23Yeah, that's the right of smaller member states.
05:25I think in the last years, I can agree with Mr. Freund that there was an abuse,
05:30especially also for the interest of foreign actors, foreign states, third countries.
05:34I think that was worrying.
05:36But in the end, we need this veto to defend the rights of smaller countries as a principle.
05:41In the case of Hungary, I think I worked alongside Fidesz during many years
05:46when I was a parliamentary advisor here in the institutions.
05:49And back then, they were really aligning always with the Juncker Commission,
05:54in the first years with the von der Leyen Commission.
05:57So I don't think they're the ones always blocking EU policy.
06:02Not always blocking.
06:04He did block everything on Ukraine, basically.
06:07Is this today, is this the beginning of a new dawn, a spring coming to Brussels?
06:14What's going to be the vibe here in this town?
06:17I mean, the veto in chief is now gone.
06:19So I hope clearly that now there is a real willingness to act.
06:25But I also hope that member states understand that we cannot let this happen ever again.
06:31We should not allow a second Orban to now emerge,
06:35either because he comes back one day or someone else follows in his footsteps.
06:39I mean, that a single guy can basically block an entire union,
06:42can risk our security,
06:44and uses the veto not to defend his or the Hungarian interest,
06:48but to just basically blackmail and extort from us.
06:52This is something that we should not let happen ever again.
06:55So we need reform.
06:56We need reform.
06:57No, I think we need to keep the unanimity principle as such.
07:01The treaties enshrine this principle,
07:03not because it's an idea of some Brussels bureaucrat.
07:09It was really well thought out,
07:11because smaller member states need to be defended
07:14against larger member states through qualified majority voting,
07:19overruling their national interests.
07:20I, myself, hailing from a small member state,
07:24the Netherlands know very well what this could mean.
07:27Small but powerful.
07:27Small but powerful, but nevertheless,
07:29I think we need to defend the smaller member states' national sovereignty as well.
07:33How confident are you?
07:35To be really clear,
07:35Peter Madja was elected on a national sovereignty electoral program,
07:40and I think it's a bit weird if we act now as if nothing of such ever happened.
07:46That's a good point.
07:47How confident are you that Peter Madja will actually, you know,
07:50change the dynamics and not throw in the veto?
07:54I mean, already he has changed the dynamics, right?
07:57If you look at the relationship that Peter Maguire has with people like Donald Tusk,
08:01with Emmanuel Macron now,
08:03they talk, they call each other on the phone.
08:05We haven't seen that with Viktor Orban in months and months.
08:08So already there is a different relationship.
08:11And I think he has been very clear that he wants a constructive relationship with the European Union.
08:17I think it's clear that the veto on the 90 billion for Ukraine will go away,
08:21and we will be able to help Ukraine also financially now.
08:24And I think, I mean, having been there in Budapest on the ground on Sunday,
08:29when he said things like that he is going to have this constructive relationship,
08:33that he wants to join the European public prosecutor,
08:35jointly work against corruption,
08:37there were cheers from tens of thousands of people screaming,
08:40Europe, Europe.
08:41So I think this is very different than what we have seen in the last 16 years from Viktor Orban.
08:47Of course, what Mr. Freund is speaking about is very important,
08:50but that was what I was pleading in favor of.
08:53We need coordinated unity, not forced unity,
08:56not a forced unity forced upon smaller memberships.
08:59We need coordination, speaking with other heads of government.
09:03And that's what Peter Magyar is doing now.
09:05That's very positive.
09:06But that doesn't mean we need to get rid of the unanimity principle.
09:09And I really doubt that Peter Magyar would agree with Mr. Freund
09:13to get rid of the unanimity principle,
09:15because he was elected as a national sovereigntyist.
09:19And we have a Hungarian parliament now.
09:20So I was a bit surprised to see left-wing and liberal politicians cheering
09:25for a new Hungarian parliament entirely composed out of right-wing,
09:30centre-right, national conservative, nationalist and ultra-nationalist parties.
09:35There's no social democrat, green or liberal party left.
09:38So I think this conservative mandate given by the Hungarian voters is very clear
09:44and should also be respected in the European Union.
09:46And we have to work together to coordinate with Peter Magyar.
09:49And I'm very happy that he will unblock the 90 billion euro for Ukraine.
09:54But we shouldn't do as if he's now like a Volt or a Green MEP
09:58pleading in favor of a European federation.
10:01That is certainly not your thoughts on this, Daniel.
10:03Well, I mean, having spoken with actually lots of Hungarians on the ground,
10:08this is not a conservative vote.
10:10I mean, most people in this election voted for Europe, voted for democracy,
10:15voted for the rule of law and voted to kick Viktor Orban out.
10:19This is what motivated most of those people that now voted actually for Peter Magyar.
10:24And the big question now for him is basically if he is going to represent that voter base or not.
10:32Because many people actually voted in this election with the hope
10:35that they will be able to cast their vote that they really want to cast in four years' time.
10:40once democracy has been restored, once there is independent media,
10:43once there is rule of law in the country.
10:46This was not about a conservative agenda.
10:48This was about getting rid of all of it.
10:50All right. All right. Let me stop you there.
10:52As we are just getting warmed up here, as you have noticed.
10:59Now it's time for our viewers to get a real flavor of the European Parliament Chamber
11:04where members ask each other questions.
11:07And sometimes it can get heated.
11:10That means it's time for you both to challenge each other directly,
11:14just as you do in the Himmish cycle behind us.
11:17So let's get started.
11:19And Sander, the floor is yours.
11:21Yes.
11:22Mr. Freund, you're really pleading in favor of getting rid of unanimity.
11:26What would you do in a future situation with the Greens in Germany,
11:31being a coalition party, in a coalition in Germany, in Berlin,
11:35having this coalition force a European Council decision upon them to, for instance,
11:41go to war, like in the past on Iraq or Iran?
11:46How would your party in that case react?
11:49Would you agree with such a stance being imposed on the German government to go to war by an EU
11:55decision?
11:57Well, I mean, I'm a Democrat.
11:59I'm being outvoted here in the European Parliament on an almost daily basis.
12:03That's how it goes.
12:05This is democracy.
12:06I'm not pleading for a veto here in the European Parliament.
12:09Imagine if among us 720 members of the European Parliament,
12:13we would have to strike consensus.
12:16We would have to reach unanimity on every decision.
12:18This House would be completely dysfunctional.
12:21And it's a little bit similar among 27 in the Council.
12:25So, yeah, I would accept decisions that go against my beliefs.
12:29I can fight for them.
12:30But at the end, we vote.
12:32And I accept that if we vote by majority, I can lose.
12:35All right.
12:36Are you happy with that?
12:37No, that basically means abolishing the national sovereignty of the German Bundestag
12:42over its foreign policy and military policy.
12:44That's a different question.
12:46And I want Daniel to ask, Alexander.
12:48Well, my question is basically, I mean, you have said that, you know,
12:51the veto needs to remain.
12:53But if you look, for example, on the process of accession of a new member state,
12:58and I could even say, you know, taking a unanimous vote at the end,
13:02maybe we keep that for now.
13:04But do we need 150 unanimous votes in the process where every single question
13:11needs to be opened by unanimity, needs to be closed by unanimity?
13:14I mean, isn't 150 vetoes or unanimous decision on a decision like that a bit exaggerated?
13:21Can't we bring that down to maybe one in the end?
13:25The current treaty already has a passerelle clause to deal with such certain issues.
13:31I think we can find solutions there without doing away with national sovereignty
13:36and unanimity principle.
13:38And I will repeat myself, but Peter Madja in Hungary yesterday said that he's opposed
13:43to a quick accession, of instance, for Ukraine.
13:46So he wants to say about every step in the process, opening of every chapter.
13:51So I don't think most smaller member states would agree to your approach there.
13:57Follow up, Daniel?
13:58Well, I think at the end we have to decide whether we want a European Union that is still
14:04able to act in a world, you know, with Trump, with Xi, with Putin, whether we're just the
14:10playing ball for the big guys or whether we get a seat at the table and a voice that is
14:15actually heard.
14:16You speak a lot about sovereignty and, you know, our capacity to act.
14:20And I actually think we only have that if we're able to speak with one voice.
14:25and if we have the capacity to act, not one single European blocking us from that.
14:30How do you respond to that?
14:32I think we need to speak with one voice, but not through forced unity, but through coordinated
14:37unity.
14:38The European Union was able to act after the Russian criminal invasion of Ukraine in 2022.
14:44The EU acted upon that, provided support.
14:47So we shouldn't do as if the European Union was helpless with the unanimity principle.
14:53This is false.
14:54I think in the future we can even, your stance could even undermine support for the European
14:59Union and membership by bringing in this bomb of qualified majority voting, alienating
15:07smaller member states and creating more resentment among politicians.
15:11Maybe even among Peter Magyar in Hungary, but also in my own member state in the Netherlands.
15:15If you impose qualified majority voting, having France and your own member state Germany with
15:21a few others imposing their foreign policy or a military policy will upon my voters in the
15:27regions, because you spoke about Budapest.
15:30I think that the population of capitals doesn't reflect the general population in EU member states
15:35or their stances.
15:36and I think the large majority of voters in the countryside and in regions want to uphold
15:41the unanimity principle to make sure that every voter in every region and every member state
15:47is heard.
15:48And these voters know very well we have to defend ourselves against foreign threats by third
15:52states and third countries.
15:54Sander, I gave you the last question.
15:56Yes.
15:58Mr. Freund, are you not worried?
16:00I already asked it, said it before, but aren't you worried that abolishing the unanimity principle
16:06will create resentment and alienate a lot of Europeans in these smaller member states
16:11having other stances than maybe majorities in larger member states, for instance, the
16:16Hungarian population, but also in the Netherlands or in Latvia, if we go towards qualified majority
16:22voting?
16:22Well, I mean, you mentioned Latvia and I think the Baltic states are an interesting example.
16:26You know, they came out of Soviet rule, joined the European Union.
16:31And I think for a long time for them, the veto was in a way the guarantee, you know, that
16:36something like in the Soviet Union doesn't happen again.
16:38But the problem being that since the full scale invasion in Ukraine, the Baltic states are
16:44realizing that if you have someone like Viktor Orban in the EU that wields the veto, if all
16:50of a sudden you have unmarked Russian soldiers coming over the border into Estonia, Latvia,
16:55Lithuania, well, then Orban becomes a security threat because he can block any kind of reaction.
17:01We don't even have an opinion on war crimes committed in Ukraine if Orban puts his veto
17:07in this because we can't have a foreign policy decision.
17:09You're still reasoning in all terms because Orban now is out of course.
17:14I mean, there will be others.
17:16Let's see how entrenched this thought was.
17:18But the problem is then, you know, that veto that can be in a way the protector of sovereignty
17:23can also become the supreme security threat.
17:27And that is the situation why I think we should get rid of it.
17:30All right.
17:31We have heard the views from our guests.
17:33Now it's time to bring in a new voice.
17:39I'd like to bring in European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen now in a press conference
17:43this week.
17:44She commented on the outcome of the Hungarian election and gave a hint of what could come
17:49next in Brussels.
17:51Here's what she said.
17:52Take a listen.
17:53We should also look at the lessons learned inside the European Union.
17:58For example, I think moving to qualified majority voting in foreign policy is an important way
18:07to avoid systematic blockages as we've seen in the past.
18:11passed.
18:12And we should use the momentum now really to move forward on that topic.
18:16Sander, your thoughts on this?
18:18I think this is an example of a prepared, politically prepared, bureaucratically prepared, badly timed
18:25power grab by the European Commission, which has a lot to do about its own transparency and
18:30legitimacy among European voters in this era.
18:34I think that's what they should work on and not work towards abolishing national sovereignty on foreign policy, on
18:41military interventions, because as was said, military operation.
18:46We have NATO and EU and we have seen that national democratic change is possible in
18:51Hungary, that the democratic will of Hungarian voters corrected the problems we had in the
18:56European Council on support for Ukraine last support bill.
19:01Did I hear that right, power grab of the European Commission?
19:04I think it's quite the opposite.
19:06And you speak about the democratic will of the people.
19:09You know, if you look at an issue like whether large corporations should pay their fair share
19:13of taxes, you have an overwhelming majority of Europeans in every single member state that want that.
19:19But we cannot get there because a single member state, maybe one that has a very favorable tax regime for
19:26large corporations and helps to evade billions of taxes being paid, can put their veto on these kind of minimum
19:34taxation levels, for example.
19:35So this is another example where the veto is basically going against democracy, is going against the will of the
19:43vast majority of Europeans.
19:45All right.
19:46We'll come back to this.
19:47Let's take a break here on The Ring.
19:50We'll be back with more after this.
20:00Welcome back to The Ring, Euronews' weekly debate show.
20:04I'm Stefan Grobe and I'm joined by Daniel Freund from the Greens and Sander Schmidt from the European Conservatives and
20:10Reformists.
20:11The idea here is to bring the European Parliament's debates to your living room.
20:16This week we're focusing on a key question in this building.
20:19Is the EU in need of wide-ranging reforms or not?
20:24One issue is the role of the EU High Representative, Kaya Callas.
20:28She heads the European External Action Service with its 140-plus EU delegations worldwide and employs more than 4,000
20:38staff.
20:38But Callas, like all her predecessors, has no direct control over national armies.
20:44There's also no single centralized EU foreign policy budget.
20:47Funding is split across institutions and member states.
20:51And Callas and her service must rely on a consensus of the 27 member states for foreign policy decisions.
20:59Is this efficient at all?
21:02No, it's not.
21:03I mean, why do we pay 28 different embassies in cities like Beijing or Washington?
21:11I mean, let's at least start with the councillor service.
21:14If a European needs a new passport, needs a birth certificate, something, why do we need 28 different administrations that
21:21they can turn to?
21:22Isn't one enough?
21:23That would be much cheaper for European taxpayers.
21:26Sander, your thoughts?
21:27Well, there's a matter maybe of inefficiency in diplomacy, but militarily we already have Article 5 of NATO, Article 42
21:35in the EU.
21:36And we should not, as an EU, start to double NATO infrastructure.
21:40We need to build on the European pillar, I think, jointly.
21:43But that's on a military capacity basis, not on the command structure.
21:48And I really, really would warn the European Union against assuming a role of commanding an EU army that would
21:57be very dangerous and create a lot of resentment.
22:00But foreign policy, I mean, we're hearing every now and then that the commission president is sort of undermining the
22:06high representative by taking too much out of the foreign policy portfolio in her own hands.
22:12Why are we having a higher representative at all then?
22:15I mean, it is a bit of a strange animal, because we didn't, when we last made these treaties, we
22:20didn't fully commit to have an EU foreign minister.
22:23The governments wanted more control, so she is half in the commission, half in the council, and that is precisely
22:29what creates this awkward position.
22:32But if you say, you know, this is about sovereignty, look at the sovereignty of a place like Greenland.
22:39Greenland doesn't have sovereignty facing Donald Trump and the American administration.
22:45They had sovereignty when Europe was together and said, if you touch Greenland, you're going to, you know, have the
22:52joint EU against you.
22:54That's when we protected the sovereignty of Greenland.
22:57Not every small country for itself, places like Luxembourg, like Estonia, even a place like Germany doesn't have sovereignty in
23:05the face of China, Russia or the US.
23:07Only together are we strong enough.
23:09But the case of Greenland perfectly shows that we're not a big player globally.
23:14And he mentioned that earlier.
23:15I think the agreement perfectly shows that if it's necessary, like the Ukraine war, at the start of the Ukraine
23:22war, the EU is willing and able to act with the current treaties jointly.
23:26We saw that on Greenland.
23:27We saw it on Ukraine, on the invasion by Russia.
23:30But if we look at Iran and the stances, the different stances of EU member states, Sanchez, Pedro Sanchez, maybe
23:37also Italy, but also France, Germany and other member states on the Israeli-American intervention against Iran, it's entirely divergent.
23:46And we saw this divergence also in the EU institutions.
23:49So it's doomed to fail to have a forced unity of foreign policy.
23:54In this way, we need coordination.
23:55And Greenland and the Ukraine cases show that the EU is already able, within the current treaties, to act if
24:03it's necessary.
24:03Because the EU, rightly so, defended Greenland.
24:06I led a delegation of the Fisheries Committee last September to Greenland to also strengthen our ties with the fisheries
24:13sector there.
24:13We have a huge fisheries agreement there.
24:15And I really can only commend these cases as an example for the future.
24:21So it's versus speaking with one voice versus a forced unity.
24:27I don't know where this forced unity comes from.
24:30The question is just if people like the two of us, members of the European Parliament, actually have any kind
24:36of say on these questions.
24:37Because in the current setup, it's left to the 27 governments.
24:40We here adopt resolutions, but quite honestly, who cares?
24:44But the question is if the European Parliament, the directly elected representatives from all those citizens in Europe that send
24:51us here to the European Parliament,
24:53whether this Parliament has a role in the foreign policy decisions, in the diplomatic relations.
24:59We've got to say on trade.
25:00So some elements are there, but others are not.
25:03And it makes more sense if you have all the tools in your hand.
25:06Von der Leyen can threaten on boycotts and sanctions, but she doesn't have the other tools that Putin or Trump
25:14or Xi have in their hands.
25:16And that makes her weaker.
25:17Well, now it's time to move on to our fifth and final round where we continue our conversation.
25:26Now it's time for something different.
25:28I'm going to ask you a set of questions and you can answer only with a yes or no.
25:34Okay.
25:35So let's start with a simple one.
25:37Is Orbán's defeat a turning point for the EU, Sander?
25:40I think very much so in the sense that we can now provide the Ukraine with a yes.
25:45Yes, yes.
25:46Yes, good.
25:47Will Magia be an undisputed ally of Brussels?
25:51No.
25:52No?
25:52No.
25:53No.
25:54You guys agree on something here.
25:56Is unanimity making the EU weak on the world stage?
26:01Yes.
26:01Absolutely not.
26:03Would removing veto power make the EU more democratic?
26:06Absolutely not.
26:08Yes.
26:09And is the future of the EU federal?
26:12No, it's confederal.
26:14It is.
26:16Is the EU a credible actor on the world stage these days?
26:19Yes.
26:21Halfway, but rather yes.
26:24Okay.
26:25Does Europe need a single foreign policy voice?
26:28No.
26:29Yes.
26:30Is this the moment for radical EU reform?
26:33Yes.
26:35No.
26:36Let's keep it away.
26:38That's a good one.
26:39Are national governments the problem in EU decision making?
26:43When you sit in the parliament, that's how it looks like, yeah?
26:47Absolutely not.
26:48And national governments have the most direct mandate in the European Council.
26:52No.
26:53We're elected on EU election programs.
26:55National governments are national elections, so they have no direct mandate for EU affairs.
27:00Our national elections have the highest turnout of voters, the most direct media attention.
27:05And I think in the principle of subsidiarity enshrined in the treaties, we need to look upon these national parliaments
27:10as the prime expression of the national will.
27:13Fascinating conversation here for a yes or no question.
27:16That final answer brings us to the end of this edition of The Ring.
27:20Thanks again to Daniel Freund and Sander Schmidt for a lively conversation here from the European Parliament.
27:26Thanks to our audience at home.
27:27If you like, you can continue the conversation by sending us your comments to thering at euronews.com.
27:35That's it for today.
27:36I'm Stefan Grobe.
27:37Take care and see you soon here on Euronews.
27:42Take care and see you soon.
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