Another follow-up on last week’s podcast. I noted the colossal fines levied on Hungary by the Eurocrats for not complying with EU rules on so-called ”asylum.” The way the fines are being applied is, the EU is just holding back payments that would normally be made to Hungary out of the EU’s budget.

In further developments there, chief Eurocrat Ursula von der Leyen clarified, when asked, why those payments are being withheld. Two reasons, she replied: One, Hungary doesn’t allow mass settlement of illegal aliens. Two: Hungary doesn’t let citizens change their sex from what was recorded on their birth certificates.

Interviewed on Hungarian TV, Prime Minister Viktor Orbán responded with his customary forthright vigor. Quote, in translation:

There is not enough money in the world to force us to let migrants in. And there is not enough money in the world for which we would put our children and grandchildren in the hands of LGBTQ activists. That’s impossible.

Viktor Orban issues a warning to Ursula von der Leyen: "There is not enough money in the world to force us to let migrants in... And there is not enough money in the world for which we would put our children or grandchildren in the hands of LGBTQ activists. That's impossible."… pic.twitter.com/6smuv7aLbl

— Wide Awake Media (@wideawake_media) June 15, 2024

Good sturdy stuff. If you follow the Euro news, though, Viktor Orbán’s policies on immigration and LGBTQETC types I like to call the Prouds are only two of the three issues causing trouble between Hungary and the EU, and they are the lesser two of the three. Much more important is Hungary’s refusal to go along with EU support for Ukraine in the war with Russia.

As best I can figure there are two reasons why Viktor Orbán seems to be favoring Russia over Ukraine in the war: one coldly practical reason, one very Hungarian reason.

The practical reason is that Hungary is heavily dependent on Russia for its energy supply, more so that any of the West European countries that decide EU policy.

The very Hungarian reason is to do with Hungarian national identity. I’ve written about this at length: see for example my monthly Diary for April 2003, or my review of Miklós Bánffy’s Transylvanian Trilogy.

Suffice it to say here that

• Hungary once had much more territory than it has today, leaving legacy Hungarian minorities in neighboring countries, including Ukraine; that
• Hungary is fiercely protective of those minorities; that
• The more extreme forms of Hungarian nationalism make the more extreme forms of anyone else’s nationalism look pale and watery by comparison; and that
• Viktor Orbán is attentive to those extremes as part of his voter base.