#EUFridays by JEF Hungary #19

Hungary accused of inflating the number of Ukrainian asylum seekers to secure EU funds

Hungary’s nationalist government has been accused of inflating the number of Ukrainian refugees actually seeking asylum in Hungary to secure EU funds to finance pre-election welfare measures. Only days before the 2022 parliamentary election Viktor Orbán’s Fidesz administration claimed it had accepted more Ukrainian refugees than any other country relative to their population. Zoltan Kovacs, the government’s international spokesperson, said Hungary had accepted more than 540,000 people fleeing war, a figure he said amounted to between five and six refugees for every 100 Hungarian inhabitants.

However, the Hungarian Helsinki Committee, a human rights NGO dedicated to helping refugees, called the statistics “misleading” and said most of those arriving subsequently travelled on to other countries, making the real numbers much lower. Despite the massive exodus from Ukraine, as of 27 March, according to official figures, only 7,749 people had applied for temporary protected status in Hungary entitling them to social welfare support including housing, the right to work and access to education. Márta Pardavi, the Helsinki committee’s co-chair, said the relatively low number of applicants showed many refugees were merely passing through Hungary; “How many people entered at the border does not tell anything about how many are staying longer than the time it takes to transit Hungary […] In its quest for additional funds from the EU, the Hungarian government uses the most impressive number it can find. However, it has to provide for a far less number in reality since a high number of Ukrainian refugees move on to other countries.”

Orban’s government has been in prolonged dispute with the EU over the suspension of funding as punishment for infringements against EU rule of law procedures, with Brussels having already frozen €7bn in Covid relief funds for Hungary.

Via: The Guardian

Poland to ban Russian oil imports, Germans are urged to save energy

Poland is currently commissioning the EU’s most radical plan to cut dependence on Russian energy sources. Prime Minister Mateusz Morawieczki announced steps to end all Russian oil imports by the end of 2022. He also stated that Poland has banned the import of Russian coal with an expected end date in May 2022. Warsaw has also been taking strides to cut reliance on Russian gas. A liquid gas terminal was built in Swinoujscie and is being expanded now, receiving deliveries from Qatar, the US, Norway and other exporters. A new, Baltic pipeline bringing gas from Norway is to open at the end of this year. Morawiecki says Poland will take steps to become “independent” of Russian energy and is calling on other EU countries to “walk away” from Russian fossil fuels. Poland argues that money from oil and gas exports are fuelling Russia’s war machine, thus these purchases should stop.

In Germany, the government issued an early warning over natural gas supplies and called on consumers to save energy amid concerns that Russia could cut off deliveries unless it is paid in roubles. Western nations have rejected the Russian demand for rouble payments, arguing it would undermine the sanctions imposed against Moscow over the war in Ukraine. Economy Minister Robert Habeck said the move was a precautionary measure as, so far, Russia is still fulfilling its contracts. But he appealed to companies and households in Germany to start reducing their gas consumption. There have been several comments from the Russian side that if this (payments in roubles) doesn't happen, then the supplies will be stopped,” he told reporters in Berlin, adding that Moscow is expected to unveil new rules for gas payments on Thursday. “In order to be prepared for this situation I have today triggered the early warning level.” The European Union has so far stopped short of endorsing a blanket ban on energy imports from Russia. In addition to the fact that they are dependent on Russian fossil fuels to make their economies function, many member countries and EU officials are worried that an embargo could be counterproductive since Russia could sell its production, particularly of oil, to third countries, likely at a higher price.

Via: Euronews

Beijing’s close ties to Russia despite the invasion of Ukraine has raised fears in Western capitals

The agenda for the virtual meeting between China’s top officials and the presidents of the European Council and Commission includes topics of “shared interest” like climate change, biodiversity and health, and a call by the European Union for the resumption of talks on human rights. But underlying the conversations will be a single topic of importance: Russia’s invasion of Ukraine - and what it means for relations between China and the West.

Tensions between China and the EU were mounting even before Russia’s assault on Ukraine, but Xi’s embrace of Putin before and during the conflict has raised them to a new level. During the pandemic, senior Communist Party officials conceived a new political slogan: dōngshēng xījiàng, meaning the rise of the east and the descent of the west. The reasoning behind it included China’s belief that it has had “systemic advantages” in tackling the coronavirus, as well as a long-held belief that the country’s state-backed technological advancement will soon put it in a position to overturn the Western world order. It is in this lens that China’s strategic alignment with Russia was born. During the 2022 Winter Olympics the two countries signed a so-called “no limits” partnership, declaring an intention to challenge western world order, based on democracy, freedoms and human rights that was quickly denounced by European officials.

In the run-up to the summit, Western officials have warned of consequences for Beijing if it hinders the pushback against Russian aggression. Jörg Wuttke, president of the EU Chamber of Commerce in China who has lived in Beijing for a quarter century, said the sanctions against Russia had “shown the resolve of European governments, companies and people.” “Decoupling with Russia will be near complete, indicating what the West might be willing to pay if China sides with Russia.” But the EU’s biggest countries, including Germany and France, have advocated a conciliatory tone, with diplomats saying they hoped to talk Beijing out of aiding Moscow. They argue it would be premature to criticize China for its current position, given that there is not yet any evidence to show, for instance, that China is arming Russia.

And then there’s the outlier in Hungary. Last week, as unarmed civilians were being bombed in Mariupol, Prime Minister Viktor Orbán traveled to Serbia to take the inaugural train ride on part of the new Budapest-Belgrade railway network, which was built and is managed by Chinese state-owned companies.

For years, the EU led by Germany has hoped to achieve Wandel durch Handel — change through trade — in countries like Russia and China, hoping that economic liberalisation would put the countries on the road to democracy.