EU support drops in Hungary
A Szonda Ipsos opinion poll conducted between January 3-13 shows that EU support dropped in Hungary by 17% comparing to previous polls.
This time round 55% of Hungarians think EU accession is basically advantageous, compared to 62% six months ago and the number of those who anticipate more disadvantages than advantages from joining the EU rose from 20% to 39%.
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Laszlo Kovacs, foreign minister and chairman of the Socialist Party, blamed the FIDESZ (the opposition party) leaders for the rise of anti-EU sentiment. FIDESZ claims to support EU accession, but has repeatedly stressed the disadvantages of EU membership, Mr Kovacs explained.
For their part, FIDESZ claims that the government in office is primarily responsible if support for accession is on the wane. Jozsef Szajer, member of FIDESZ, said public opinion could have been affected by the government’s "extremely bad" way of holding negotiations at the European Council Summit in Copenhagen last month.
The Hungarian opposition launched severe attacks upon the government after the Copenhagen Summit, saying that it was weak and had wrong negotiating tactics that resulted in both the Poles and the Czechs achieving better results from Brussels.
A referendum on EU membership will take place in Hungary on 12 April.