HUNGARY

A Most Harmful Presidency

It has been clear for more than a decade that Hungary’s illiberal regime poses a threat to the European Union, to its proper functioning, and to its international reputation. European politicians warned the EU of the Orbán governments’ disrespect of the community’s fundamental values for 10 years, but there was never enough political will to take the necessary steps to protect the EU from Orbán. The fault lines between Brussels and Budapest seriously deepened further after Russia’s invasion of Ukraine in 2022: Hungary’s profoundly different approach to the conflict (the claim that it is a ‘proxy war’, in which the United States attempts to defeat Russia; the emphasising of Ukraine’s inability to win and Russia’s inability to lose; and calling for an immediate ceasefire even if it means Russia’s effective victory) alienated Budapest from its EU and NATO allies. It was under these circumstances that on 1 July, Hungary took over the rotating presidency of the Council of the European Union. The fears of what an Orbán led Council would mean for EU legislation were great prior to the start of the presidency. While Orbán started relatively well by visiting Ukrainian president Zelenskyy – his first visit to Kyiv in 10 years –, he soon after that departed on an international ‘illiberal tour’, meeting autocratic leaders around the world, acting as if his position as prime minister of the country of the Council presidency had endowed him with the mandate of representing the EU. EU leaders immediately distanced themselves from and condemned Orbán’s actions, but it seems that even though Hungary could still be stripped of the presidency, there is still not enough political will within the EU to take that step that is considered too drastic by some. The EU should prepare, though: there is no reason to believe that the Hungarian government’s policy is going to change for the remaining months of the presidency, and it is in the interest of both the EU institutions and the Member States to come up with joint and firm responses to the challenge that the Hungarian presidency presents for the European Union.