From the moment Hungary assumed the European Council’s rotating presidency on July 1, Prime Minister Viktor Orban has been making political waves. Most controversial has been last month’s “peace mission,” in which he traveled abroad to Russia and China to discuss the war in Ukraine with Presidents Vladimir Putin and Xi Jinping, respectively. During both meetings, Orban advocated positions completely at odds with the European Union’s foreign policy while using official EU logos and presidential hashtags to publicize them, infuriating EU leaders.
Orban’s self-styled international diplomacy is just the latest provocation to raise Brussel’s ire. During his time in office, Hungary has a long history of violating the bloc’s laws and norms on everything from LGBTQ+ rights and media freedoms to corruption and judicial independence. As Zsuzsanna Szeleny, a former independent Hungarian legislator, put it, Orban’s 14-year tenure has reduced the country’s parliament to little more than “a decoration for a one-party state.”
Over the years, however, the EU’s response to the Orban regime’s democratic backsliding has been woefully inadequate. Orban won three elections before the bloc finally initiated its Article 7 procedure, a measure that could strip Hungary of its EU voting rights, in 2018. And even now, more than five years later, the process remains in legal limbo, with the European Council yet to make a recommendation. In the meantime, the EU has largely resorted to a combination of economic pressure and concessions to bring Orban into line when he threatens its vital interests. In February, for instance, Orban lifted his veto on an aid package for Ukraine totaling €50 billion, or around $54 billion, after the EU agreed to ease restrictions on Hungary’s access to structural funds that had been frozen over rule-of-law and corruption concerns, freeing up €6.3 billion, or around $6.9 billion.