Russian Church welcomes elections result in Serbia and Hungary
President Orban after he won the Hungarian elections. Photo EPA, Zoltan Fischer
Eastern Europe
The Russian Orthodox Church is delighted about the re-election of the Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban and the Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic.
Metropolitan Hilarion praised the Serbian President as an "outstanding politician", Interfax reports. He pointed out that a large majority voted for Vucic to serve a second term. "That indicates great confidence on the part of the Serbian people", he said during the program "Church and the World" on the TV channel "Russia-24".
The metropolitan, furthermore, applauded Vucic's economic and foreign policy, which he called "very balanced." He praised Vucic's decision not to "join sanctions against Russia" and take "into account the pro-Russian sentiments that are very strong among Serbian people."
Furthermore, Metropolitan Hilarion asserted his joy about the election of the Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban. "He has vast experience and knows how to balance different political forces. Hungary is inside the European Union but pursues a fairly independent policy, including the policy regarding Russia."
Hilarion is optimistic about the attention the Orban government pays to moral issues. Recently, Hungary included the traditional definition of marriage in its Constitution as a union between a man and a woman. In addition, the Hungarian Constitution still mentions the Name of God, Interfax reports.
Hungary isolated more and more
The European Union is not as happy with Prime Minister Orban as Hilarion is. The Union was already outraged by the fact that Orban instituted policies that were contrary to the European view on gender and sexuality. That led to many critiques from EU members. Furthermore, the members of the EU strongly dislike Orban's ties with Russia and Putin. Orban recently said that he would block European sanctions on Russia.
Even Poland, which has been Hungary's ally for a long time, has criticised the Hungarian Prime Minister, Notes from Poland reports. Jaroslaw Kaczyńsky, the leader of Poland's ruling party," warned that Poland "cannot cooperate" with Hungary anymore unless it changes its attitude towards Ukraine. "When Prime Minister Orbán says that he does not see exactly what happened in Bucha, he must be advised to go to an ophthalmologist."
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