Brussels — European Union leaders lashed out at Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban on Thursday, accusing him of hijacking crucial aid to Ukraine and undermining EU resolve in an attempt to win elections at home.
In a rare public outburst against members of their ranks, the leaders demanded that Orban respect a decision by the 27-nation bloc in December to fund Ukraine’s armed forces and war-ravaged economy for the next two years. Orbán himself has previously endorsed what appears to be a critical lifeline for war-torn Ukraine.
“They are using Ukraine as a weapon in their election campaign and that is not good. I think we made a deal and they betrayed us,” Finnish Prime Minister Petteri Orpo told reporters as leaders gathered for a summit in Brussels.
Ukraine’s economy has deteriorated. EU officials believe at least part of the 90-billion-euro ($103-billion) loan should be received by early May. For that to happen, work on the EU deal must continue within two to three weeks.
Orban – considered a close ally of Russian President Vladimir Putin in Europe and a staunch nationalist admired by US President Donald Trump – has been trailing in opinion polls ahead of the April 12 election. As part of his election campaign, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky was portrayed as an existential threat to Hungary.
He accused the Ukrainian leader, along with European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen, of wanting to drag Hungary into Russia’s war, now in its fifth year. He said his re-election was the only hope for peace and security.
Fellow EU leaders are now taking Orban to task, pulling the rug under his claims that EU institutions in Brussels are against him.
German Chancellor Friedrich Merz insisted that all 27 EU member states must respect the decision made together in December. “The guiding principle of the European Union is loyalty and trust,” he said.
On the eve of the summit, Orbán accused Merz of “establishing this blockade in Europe now for domestic political reasons and because of the election campaign being conducted there”.
Belgian Prime Minister Bart de Wever said it was “unacceptable to decide with the leader and then say ‘but I’m not ready to implement what I decided'”.
If Orban is using the election as a pretext, “this is not a valid argument given the situation in Ukraine, the plight of the people in Ukraine and what we have decided,” said Austrian Chancellor Christian Stocker.
The stance highlighted key weaknesses in EU decision-making mechanisms, which usually require unanimous agreement among the 27 member states. Hungary has a population of around 10 million, a fraction of the bloc’s 450 million people.
Ukraine and Hungary have been locked in an escalating feud since Russian oil deliveries to Hungary and Slovakia were halted in January due to damage to the Druzhba pipeline, which crosses Ukrainian territory.
Ukrainian officials blame the damage on Russian drone strikes, while Orban accuses Zelensky of deliberately withholding oil supplies. Hungary has not vetoed the debt package, which is blocking a new round of EU sanctions against Russia.
In an attempt to break the impasse, van der Leyen and European Council President Antonio Costa this week offered to pay for repairs to the pipeline. An EU technical team is in Kyiv awaiting security clearance to inspect the site.
But Orban has vowed to continue to freeze debt until he stops oil shipments to Hungary.
“We are not talking about politics, this is existence for Hungary. Getting oil is existence for Hungarians,” said Orban, who has been Hungary’s prime minister since 2010 and is seeking his fifth term. “This is not a joke, this is not a political game. Zelensky must understand that.”
Ahead of the meeting, Slovak Prime Minister Robert Fico withdrew support for a statement on the planned summit in Ukraine because it did not include the pipeline oil delivery issue as requested. “It is being rejected for incomprehensible reasons. I will not vote for the conclusions in Ukraine,” he told Slovak lawmakers.
The EU largely abandoned Russian oil and natural gas after 2022 as Putin used the bloc’s reliance on it as leverage to undermine European support for Ukraine. However, exemptions were granted to Hungary and Slovakia to continue using Russian oil.
Their leaders say they are landlocked and don’t have easy access to other suppliers, although they currently get oil through an alternative route through Croatia. However, Croatian Prime Minister Andrej Plenkovic noted that Hungary and Slovakia pay about 30% less for Russian oil.
Addressing the leaders via video link, Zelensky strongly opposed allowing Russian power to transit through Ukraine. Energy revenues have fueled Putin’s war, and Russian forces have relentlessly targeted Ukraine’s energy infrastructure throughout the conflict.
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Geer Moulson and Pietro Di Cristofaro in Berlin and Karel Janicek in Prague contributed to this report.
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