According to the calculations of a study commissioned by two EP groups and those of the Hungarian Makronóm Institute show that the European Union’s energy policy is fundamentally flawed, and that the targets set, namely a significant reduction in carbon dioxide emissions, can only be achieved by actively involving nuclear power plants.

‘In contrast to other indicators, the Hungarian judiciary performs below the European Union average in terms of the perception of its independence. Based on this, we might state that the rule of law conditionality procedure launched against our country is justified. However, the validity of this argument is undermined by the fact that there are no criteria in this area either in which Hungary would not be ahead of several other Member States. For example, the Spanish, Slovak, Bulgarian, Polish, and Croatian public have a worse opinion of the independence of their country’s judiciary than the Hungarian.’

Balázs Orbán pointed out that Hungarian foreign policy has long sought to draw attention to the fact that the Balkans should be offered the prospective of European integration. ‘This is another potential conflict zone that can explode just like the Ukrainian-Russian conflict. It is important for every EU country to stand in favour of the Western Balkans enlargement policy for the sake of the stability of the region,’ he emphasised.

About a week after the Committee on Budgetary Control officially rejected her renomination, the European Parliament reversed that decision and voted in favour of another six-year term for Gáll-Pelcz on the European Court of Auditors. However, on the same day, the EP also passed a resolution condemning Hungary.

‘We should not turn a blind eye to the EP representatives who seem to be out of line with their role. Repositioning the power of the EP is actually part of a wider phenomenon that tries to outsource political decision-making from the democratic frameworks of the Member States and thereby reduce the influence of voters on the fate of their own country.’