EU unease over Orbán presidency

Hungary takes over from Belgium on Monday by assuming the rotating presidency of the EU Council. Although its powers are very limited, in Brussels There is concern about the damage that ultra Viktor Orbán may cause during his semester at the head of the Union, with a particularly difficult backdrop for the EU: two simultaneous wars in the neighborhood (Ukraine and Gaza), elections in November in the US in which Donald Trump could win and an increasingly aggressive

As a preview of his presidency, Orbán announced this Sunday the formation of a new radical right group in the European Parliament called ‘Patriots for Europe’in which the Austrian FPÖ will also participate Herbert Kickl and the Alliance of Dissatisfied Citizens (or ANO) of Andris from the Czech Republic Andrej Babis. Their common program is to end aid to Ukraine and negotiate with Russia. With this move, the Hungarian Prime Minister renounces his great objective of forming a single ultra supergroup, an idea that is currently impossible due to the confrontation between Giorgia Meloni and Marine Le Pen, his team maintains.

[“Make Europe great again”: Hungría elige un eslogan de Trump para su presidencia de la UE]

Hungary’s most prominent critics are in the European Parliament. In a resolution adopted in January, the European Parliament cast doubt on Hungary’s ability to carry out the presidency “in a credible manner”, “given its failure to comply with Union law and the values ​​enshrined in Article 2 of the Treaty, as well as with the principle of sincere cooperation”. The Budapest government has been subject to disciplinary proceedings since 2018 for systemic risks to the rule of law and Brussels has frozen around 21 billion euros due to its authoritarian drift.

Moreover, since the outbreak of the war in Ukraine, Orbán has been known for blocking or delaying, almost always alone, successive packages of sanctions against Russia, as well as EU military aid to the government of Volodymyr Zelensky. The Hungarian prime minister is the only European leader who maintains contacts with Vladimir Putin, with whom he met in Beijing in October 2023.

“If you have a pro-war position, it is totally logical to introduce sanctions. But Hungary’s approach is totally different. We oppose all sanctions because our goal is always peace and sanctions have not brought us closer to peace. But if the other 26 countries want to go in that direction, we only veto sanctions that go against Hungary’s interests, such as those that affect energy,” Orbán’s chief of staff explained last week in Brussels.

Hungary’s prime minister was the only European leader to vote against renewing Ursula von der Leyen as president of the Commission (the Italian Giorgia Meloni abstained).

“The general impression is that the Hungarian presidency will make progress on some issues because it has a strong and experienced diplomatic team in Brussels. But it will not do anything on those issues that Budapest does not likeparticularly all those that have to do with Ukraine,” a European diplomat explains to EL ESPAÑOL. Precisely, Orbán was involved in a brief but tense exchange with Zelensky during the European Council on June 27 in the Belgian capital that was recorded by cameras.

The fear of paralysis over Ukraine, just when Russia is launching new offensives, is what has led the Belgian presidency to step on the accelerator during the final stretch of its mandate. On June 25, Talks have been launched on kyiv’s entry into the Union. However, the Hungarian Government has already announced that it will not open any negotiation chapter during its six months of presidency.

The EU has also found a legal loophole to circumvent Budapest’s veto on the transfer to Ukraine of the profits generated by Russian assets frozen in EU territory. The first tranche of 1.4 billion euros is due to arrive in the next few days. But Orbán is still blocking a total of 6.6 billion euros in military aid.

“Although the powers of the presidency are limited, that does not mean that Hungary cannot cause harm while playing this role. It is bad enough that the EU is represented by a country that has undermined internal democracy and wants to take control of Brussels to promote its anti-democratic agenda. If Hungary also tries to take advantage of the opportunity offered by the presidency to advance its views, it could create diplomatic confusion or even chaos “in the worst case scenario,” Zselyke Csaky, a researcher at the Center for European Reform, told EL ESPAÑOL.

To begin with, Budapest has opted for provocation when choosing the motto of its presidency: “Make Europe great again“. It is the most popular slogan of Donald Trump, with whom Orbán maintains a cordial relationship: he visited him in March at his Mar-a-Lago residence. A closeness that contrasts with the majority position in the EU, which is of extreme concern faced with a possible return of the Republican due to the risk that he will ignore Ukraine and NATO and trigger new trade wars.

“As far as Donald Trump is concerned, I am 100% – no, 101% – with him. The first reason is that Trump is a man of peace,” Orbán said in a recent interview. The choice of this slogan is a gesture loaded with a high symbolic value with which Budapest implicitly confirms Brussels’ worst fears: that he will use the presidency as a platform to promote their nationalist and Eurosceptic agenda.