Senior Czech minister: Orban is a ‘Trojan horse’ who helps Russia

Czech Minister for European Affairs Martin Dvořák Sunday sharply criticized Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban, accusing him of "blackmail" and abuse of veto power after Orban single-handedly blocked consensus on key issues regarding Ukraine at last week's EU summit. He referred to Orban as a Trojan horse.

In a televised debate on Czech station Prima TV, Dvořák shredded Orban's conduct during negotiations when European leaders aimed to approve starting accession talks for Ukraine's bid to join the 27-nation bloc. Orban also prevented unanimous support for revising the EU's 2021-27 budget to devote more long-term funding to Ukraine's defense against ongoing Russian military aggression.

"When I say obstruction, I devalue the word obstruction. I think the real name is blackmail. I think the real name is the abuse of the veto – not to protect Hungary's national interests, but to protect those of Russia," Dvořák claimed. He argued that Orban undermined much-needed European solidarity with Ukraine at a critical time.

The Czech European affairs minister also said that Orban’s actions boosted Russian interests over European unity in resisting Ukraine's subjugation. "When attacking Ukraine, Russian President Vladimir Putin did not count on the unity of the EU and NATO countries in not letting Ukraine fall," Dvořák said.

"Orban is today the Trojan horse who is intensively, and unfortunately more and more effectively, breaking that unity and trying to show that we should give up on Ukraine," he added.

The Hungarian prime minister defended Hungary's position, saying any budget changes should allocate what his country "is entitled to," rather than just a portion. This came after the European Commission previously froze Hungary's allotment of coronavirus recovery funds due to rule-of-law breaches but released EUR 10 billion (about CZK 245 billion) this week following judicial reforms.

On the topic of EU enlargement, Dvořák slammed Orban's opposition to Ukraine joining the bloc. However, head of the opposition ANO parliamentary club Alena Schillerová, who appeared in the televised debate alongside Dvořák, questioned if starting Ukraine's EU accession process was prudent without Kyiv implementing promised reforms to its judiciary first and resolving corruption issues.

When talking about getting rid of the veto power in the EU – which would prevent the problems seen over the weekend – Dvořák emphasized that the bloc should focus on finding a way that looks out for smaller countries' interests if a veto-less system were established for major EU decisions in the future.