Fresh off a hearty Putin handshake, Orban heads into an EU summit on Ukraine
Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban will be the center of attention at an EU summit on Thursday following his meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin last week
BRUSSELS — Not so long ago, a European Union leader could heartily call Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban a “dictator” in public and it’d be chuckles all around.
Already the recalcitrant EU outsider in 2015, Orban got a ribbing from EU Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker, not only for running a self-professed “illiberal democracy” but also for setting the tone at EU summits where the need for unanimity gives any single leader massive power on a slew of issues.
There are very few laughs now. Orban's handshake last week with Russian President Vladimir Putin, just about the EU’s public enemy No. 1 after invading Ukraine, made sure of that.
And as the 27 EU leaders meet for their traditional fall summit in Brussels on Thursday, the participation of Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, who will join by video link, will only increase the focus on Orban.
With unity supposedly the EU’s watchword on Ukraine, no picture could have better belied 1,000 diplomatic words.
“Some leaders will directly address the very negative effects,” said a diplomat, who asked not to be identified because of the sensitivity of the issue. “Some will say it very directly."
Another senior diplomat from a member state said that “he (Orban) was sitting there very cozily — that was remarkable. Apart from that, let’s get to the point. Hungary is a complicating factor in any discussion on (Ukraine) support and aid. It is there for all to see. We don’t have to be diplomatic about it,” he said, also seeking anonymity because of the sensitivity of the issue.
Not that Orban is
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