Twenty-six European Union leaders ignored Hungary to back a declaration of support for Ukraine at an emergency meeting, underscoring the difficult road ahead as the bloc tries to to mobilise new support for Kyiv.
Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán, the EU’s most Russia-friendly leader and long a thorn in the bloc’s side, refused on Thursday to sign on to the summit’s conclusions, which pledged unwavering support for Kyiv and set out conditions for achieving a peace settlement.
“Twenty-six countries believe that the path to peace is reinforcing Ukraine’s capacities - Hungary is alone,” Antonio Costa, president of the EU leaders’ council, said at a press conference when the summit talks concluded.
The 27-member bloc is rushing to mobilise hundreds of billions of euros in defence funds and create a new security architecture to protect against Russia as the US pares back its protective role on the continent. Orbán, however, has the power to veto many of the more ambitious measures the EU is trying to push through at a break-neck pace - as well as various efforts aimed at helping Ukraine or punishing Russia.
“It is no different from what we have experienced before,” Danish Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen said. “I have attended many meetings over quite a long time where Viktor Orbán and Hungary have taken a different stance in this conflict. Nothing has changed in that regard.”
Yet President Donald Trump’s increasingly antagonistic rhetoric aimed at Ukraine and the EU, and threats to water down America’s security commitment to Europe, have focused minds on the continent, which has woken up to the dire nature of the challenge it faces as well as the need to move quickly - something the bloc isn’t well-equipped to do.
After Orbán refused to approve the Ukraine conclusions, the bloc moved ahead with a separate statement supported by the 26 other countries, pledging continued aid to Ukraine and offering to help provide security guarantees as part of peace negotiations.
“The European Union remains committed, in coordination with like-minded partners and allies, to providing enhanced political, financial, economic, humanitarian, military and diplomatic support to Ukraine and its people, and to stepping up pressure on Russia,” the statement said.
The outcome presages bigger decisions that the bloc may have to make if the Trump administration continues to withhold support from Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy’s government. It may need to devise ad hoc arrangements to provide significant new amounts of military and financial aid to avoid a potential veto from Budapest.
But the bloc will also need to tread carefully, since leaders need Orbán to agree to renew sanctions against Russia, which require votes every six months.
The EU had been hoping to move forward on an extra €20 billion of military support for Ukraine at Thursday’s summit, but references to the package were dropped from the final text.
Earlier this week, Commission President Ursula von der Leyen proposed mobilising as much as €800 billion in additional national spending, including €150 billion of EU loans to member states for defence investment.
“This is a watershed moment for Europe,” von der Leyen said on Thursday. “Europe faces a clear and present danger and therefore Europe has to be able to protect itself and defend itself.”
The bloc did unanimously agree to back efforts to boost defence spending more generally, including debating whether to pursue a long-term reform of the bloc’s fiscal rules. The leaders called on the European Commission, the bloc’s executive arm, “to explore further measures” with regard to the so-called stability and growth pact.
The most significant announcement this week came from German chancellor-in-waiting Friedrich Merz, who said he’s secured agreement for a constitutional reform that will unlock hundreds of billions of euros for defence and infrastructure investments.
Germany, which has long preached fiscal conservatism, shocked EU member states on Wednesday by calling for changes that would go well beyond the short-term measures proposed by the commission.
Still, the outgoing chancellor, Olaf Scholz, insisted that there is no need for the EU to consider more joint debt issuance to finance the ramp up defences. That’s a proposal endorsed by a raft of other leaders, including Emmanuel Macron of France, who repeated his calls for more common borrowing on Thursday.
“All EU member states need to do more for defence,” said Scholz, who is set to step down shortly following his defeat in last month’s election. “We need to get rid of the shackles we put on ourselves.”
Source: Bloomberg