MAJORITY OF HUNGARIANS BLAME ORBAN AND FIDESZ PARTY FOR FREEZING EUROPEAN FUNDS

 News 360 14 December 2022 - by Daniel Stewart

Archive - Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban. - DPA/ BARBARA GINDL© Provided by News 360

The majority of Hungarian citizens, nearly two-thirds, believe that Prime Minister Viktor Orbán and the ruling Fidesz party are "personally" to blame for the European Commission freezing part of the cohesion funds for Hungary.

A survey conducted by the Publicus Institute shows that the vast majority of respondents believe that the government is directly responsible for these measures. However, one fifth of those polled consider that the real culprit in this situation is the European Union, which decided this week to freeze 6.3 billion euros of these funds because of the lack of progress in the fight against corruption and the strengthening of the rule of law demanded of the Orbán government, despite the fact that Hungary has finally unblocked macro-financial assistance to Ukraine.

Thus, only one tenth of Hungarians believe that the opposition is to blame, while only 7 percent blame the war in Ukraine or the sanctions imposed for the conflict, as the government claims.

Fidesz voters and supporters have chosen to blame mostly the EU, about 57 percent, while thirteen percent blame the international community.

Only just over a tenth of the government party's voters believe that the freezing of funds is a consequence of the Russian invasion of Ukraine and the sanctions associated with the conflict.