PM Orbán vetoed in the European Council: will this be consequential?

HUNGARY - In Brief 08 Mar 2025 by Istvan Racz

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On March 6, the European Council held a 'special' (extraordinary) summit meeting, in preparation for the regular summit set for March 20-21. The Council did not make any decision on this occasion, but it published a set of conclusions on two subjects: a €800bn plan to rearm Europe, and EU policies to provide further help to Ukraine. These conclusions were published in two separate documents: the one on the rearmament plan was issued with the unanimous support of all 27 member countries, whereas the one on Ukraine was issued with support only from 26 member countries, as PM Orbán voted against this part, as the only member country government head doing so.Just a few weeks ago, the Hungarian government blocked the early start of EU accession talks with Ukraine.Explaining his effective veto for the domestic audience, Mr. Orbán said that the EU once again wants too much. He meant the coincidence of four intended EU programs: the further support of Ukraine's war efforts, the further support of Ukraine's economy, a massive increase in EU and member country spending on defence, and Ukraine's EU accession, which will also be very costly. 'Now it appears that I have vetoed' he said, but it is only a matter of a few weeks for it to be realised that there is not enough money to achieve all these objectives at the same time.This argument from Mr. Orbán appears to have come up parallel to another one of his, often reiterated recently, that now that the US government is 'on the side of peace' in Ukraine, it would not make sense to provide additional help to support Ukraine's war efforts; instead, preference should be given to Mr. Trump's 'peace efforts'.Immediately after the Council...