Viktor Orban | The EU wants to show its support for kyiv, Viktor Orban does not give up
Orban European Council
Prime Minister of Hungary Victor Orban arrives at the European Council in Brussels on December 14, 2023.
European leaders affirmed Thursday, December 14 in Brussels their desire to send a message of political and economic support to Ukraine. But the unanimity necessary for an agreement promises to be difficult in the face of the Hungarian Viktor Orban who considers it premature to open accession negotiations with kyiv.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky assures that his country has fulfilled all the conditions demanded by Brussels to launch the process and is impatiently awaiting a message from the Europeans, at a time when negative signals from Washington are multiplying.
I spoke with Italian Prime Minister @GiorgiaMeloni to coordinate positions ahead of the #EUCO summit.
We discussed Ukraine’s progress in fulfilling EU recommendations required for the decision to open accession negotiations.
I count on EU leaders recognizing Ukraine’s…— Volodymyr Zelenskyy / Володимир Зеленський (@ZelenskyyUa) December 13, 2023
What is Orban looking for?
We still need to know what the Hungarian Prime Minister, often alone against everyone, intends to obtain this time.
“We are not here to offer something to Orban,” thundered Dutch Prime Minister Mark Rutte. “We will work hard” to find a solution, he added, without further details on the contours of a possible compromise.
Hungary is demanding that the European Union release all funds due to it but which have been frozen due to breaches of the rule of law.
Release of 10 billion euros for Hungary
She obtained the release of ten billion euros on Wednesday, after a decision by the European Commission which provoked the anger of MEPs. Several of them denounced the weakness of Brussels in the face of the “blackmail” of the Hungarian Prime Minister.
Will the Hungarian leader finally give in to pressure from his European partners, as he has done in the past, after having obtained certain concessions?
“Viktor Orban is the most experienced European leader” within the European Council, which brings together the heads of state or government of the 27, explains a European official, on condition of anonymity. “I think he knows exactly how not to find himself alone in the corner of the ring”, isolated from all other European countries, he assures.
A solution mentioned by some diplomats could be to propose a timetable offering prospects to kyiv while allowing Budapest not to lose face.
The European Commission has proposed opening accession negotiations with Ukraine in two stages: a decision by the 27 this week and a second next year on the framework for establishing these discussions.
Unless Viktor Orban is this time tempted to go all the way.
Asked on Wednesday about a possible “Huxit”, an exit of Hungary from the EU, the Prime Minister launched: “I do not want to leave, but to take power (…) from within”, rallying more and more countries.
