‘Brussels bureaucracy’ becoming political player, says Orbán cabinet

The “Brussels bureaucracy” is itself becoming a political player, Hungary’s EU affairs minister said on Facebook on Thursday after an interview with French magazine Valeurs Actuelles.

The European Union is financed by its member states with the intention of cooperating in areas where they are stronger together than on their own, Bóka said.

The rules of this cooperation are laid down by treaties which clearly state that the bloc’s political direction is set by the European Council comprising the member states’ political leaders, he added.

“This is not the case today,” Bóka said. “Today the Brussels bureaucracy is itself becoming a political player. And as a political player it uses every tool and resource at its disposal to achieve its political goals.”

The minister said the Hungarian government’s goal in certain aspects was completely opposite to those of the European Commission, noting that Hungary wanted to stop illegal migration and protect the EU’s external borders.

“We want to protect the Hungarian people and Europe’s economy, and we don’t want Hungarians to be made to pay the price of the Russia-Ukraine war,” he said. “Estimates put the cost of Ukraine’s reconstruction alone at around 500 billion euros if not more. This is unsustainable. These kinds of decisions shouldn’t be made over people’s heads.”