EU leaders may have inadvertently given Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban a trump card by confronting him at a summit in Brussels shortly before the parliamentary elections, Politico reports.
The criticism was over Budapest's veto of a 90 billion euro package for Ukraine. Orban refused to support the decision, saying he would do so only after Russian oil supplies through the “Druzhba“ pipeline were restored.
As the publication notes, the level of criticism directed at the Hungarian prime minister at the summit was unprecedented. Swedish Prime Minister Ulf Kristersson said he had “never heard such harsh language” directed at any EU leader.
Some European politicians, however, fear that EU leaders may have fallen into “a trap that he carefully set and perfectly calculated.” Such a reaction could only strengthen Orbán’s position shortly before the April elections in Hungary, the publication notes. According to sources in the newspaper, the confrontation has allowed the Hungarian prime minister to present himself on the domestic front as a defender of national interests. When he left Brussels, Orbán did not seem depressed or upset, Politico notes.
“The EU should have waited for the results of the Hungarian elections. Orbán is not doing well in the polls. And he is clearly fighting tooth and nail to the end, so they should have avoided a confrontation over the Ukrainian loan, postponed the clash and prevented him from getting what he clearly wants,“ said French MEP Chloe Riedel.
Experts note that this strategy is in line with the Hungarian prime minister's political approach, which for years has focused on opposing Brussels and external threats.
At the same time, some analysts believe that even if the conflict helps Orban strengthen his position in the elections, in the long run it could lead to a hardening of the EU's position towards Hungary, including possible restrictions on the country's funding and political influence within the union.
“It is bad for the EU now, but in the medium and long term the situation will be much worse for Hungary if Orban remains in power,“ explained Peter Kreko, director of of the Institute for Political Capital, a think tank and political consultancy based in Budapest.