The bloc has lost patience with Prime Minister Viktor Orban’s determination to engage with Russian President Vladimir Putin
The European Parliament in session, in Strasbourg, France, September 14, 2022. REUTERS/YVES HERMAN
It’s a coincidence that the financial penalties come in the midst of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, but the war has put Orban’s cosy relationship with Moscow in a new light and has forced the EU to address Hungary’s willingness to flaunt the rule of law in a more aggressive manner. “Hungary’s pro-Putin stand after the Russian invasion of Ukraine has made it obvious to the EU political class that Orban is not just a threat to Hungarian democracy but to the EU’s ability to respond to this war,” Jacek Kucharczyk, president of the Institute of Public Affairs think-tank, wrote in Carnegie Europe last week.
During years of frustration at the Hungarian government, Orban has been shielded from the EU’s main disciplinary machinery, known as the article 7 procedure, by the support of the nationalist government in Warsaw — because that mechanism too requires the endorsement of all the other members. The war in Ukraine has soured Orban’s relationship with the Polish government, which has been among the most ardent supporters of firm action against Putin, but for now the Poles are standing by Orban.
Appetite for action is increasing across the bloc, with EU legislators last week saying inaction has “exacerbated the backslide” and that Hungary can no longer be considered full democracy. Legislators called on the commission to take harsher measures “at a time when EU values are especially under threat by the Russian war against Ukraine and its anti-EU actions”.
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