Hungary’s six-month EU presidency officially came to an end on December 31st, and despite attempts by the liberal elites in Brussels to thwart—for purely political purposes—the conservative government’s plans, Prime Minister Viktor Orbán and his team succeeded in breathing life into the 27-member bloc by striking new deals and setting out ambitious targets.
Assessing the presidency, Viktor Orbán said at a press conference at the end of December that the presidency had adopted a political rather than a bureaucratic approach because running a bureaucratic presidency would only have meant “making progress on the usual matters.” This time, however, it is not business as usual in Europe, and political decisions had to be made to address the harsh realities the continent is facing.
During the six-month period Hungary managed to:
- reach a deal between the EU’s member states, aiming to boost Europe’s competitiveness, reduce regulatory burdens, and strengthen the EU’s technological capabilities by spending more on research and development. It also calls for strategic energy sovereignty;
- expand the borderless Schengen Area by accepting Bulgaria and Romania as full-fledged members;
- speed up accession talks between the EU and the Western Balkan countries—a process that had been held up for many years before the Hungarian presidency’s involvement;
- strengthen the pro-peace narrative regarding the war between Ukraine and Russia.
The competitiveness deal was struck in light of the damning report by the former chief of the European Central Bank Mario Draghi about Europe gradually being left behind by the United States and China. Orbán called the deal, which was signed in November in Budapest, a “historic document” that envisages affordable energy for Europe and supports small and medium-sized enterprises. The deal sets out a timeline for the European Commission to act, with the member states tasked with overseeing the progress.
The expansion of the Schengen Area was also a historic achievement because some EU member countries had blocked enlargement for 13 years. Hungary has also been a vocal supporter of speeding up the accession of the Western Balkan countries—Serbia, Montenegro, North Macedonia, Albania, Kosovo, and Bosnia and Herzegovina—into the EU, seeing their membership as vital to the security and economic prosperity of the EU as a whole. The EU resolution’s text says that the enlargement process is much needed “in the context of the radical change of the global geopolitical situation,” including the Ukraine war and the conflicts in the Middle East.
With regard to the war between Ukraine and Russia, Hungary’s lone position within the EU advocating for a ceasefire and peace talks was derided by many. The European Commission unlawfully boycotted some of the Hungarian presidency’s meetings as revenge for Viktor Orbán’s peace mission, which included a trip to Moscow, at the beginning of the presidency. At the end of this six-month tenure, Hungary also tried but failed to bring about a ceasefire at Christmas.
“Half a year ago, no one wanted to hear about peace, but today, everyone is talking about it. We have opened the door and meaningful negotiations can now begin,” Viktor Orbán said, calling this the outgoing Hungarian EU Presidency’s greatest achievement.
As the war approaches its third anniversary in February, with Russian troops making advances on the battlefield, there is a growing sentiment that the EU should change course and, instead of sending more military aid to Ukraine, start focusing on bringing peace to Europe. The re-election of Donald Trump means that the United States will likely pursue a more isolationist foreign policy. “Instead of a war policy, the policy of years of peace will return, and we will achieve great economic feats again,” Orbán stated in an interview with Magyar Nemzet, adding that the war would end in 2025.
Despite looking out for the interests of the whole of Europe, the Hungarian presidency has been labelled “rocky” and “turbulent” by Europe’s liberal media. But it was the institutions of the European Union, as well as the left-liberal political elite that deliberately intended to make things rocky for Hungary, by initiating boycotts of meetings, and by organising a blatant, unwarranted attack on the Hungarian government during a debate in the European Parliament, where the programme of the presidency should have been discussed.
Hungary’s sovereigntist stance, its conservative views on migration, gender, and social issues, as well as its resistance to the common EU approach to the Ukraine war, have angered its political rivals, who have in recent years punished the country by withholding EU funds, imposing hefty fines, and taking it to court. The Hungarian presidency has been a good opportunity to highlight the ruthless, vindictive, highly biased nature of these EU institutions. The presidency itself, however, will not go down in history for being “controversial,” but for achieving historic deals by forging alliances between member states.
Following in Hungary’s footsteps, Poland took over the reins of the six-month rotating presidency on January 1st, and it will surely face a much less confrontational crowd. The country’s liberal prime minister, Donald Tusk, is the darling of the EU elites and their media, having served as the head of the European Council and as the president of the centrist European People’s Party. Tusk has been glorified by the EU institutions and rewarded with billions of euros of EU funds, despite overseeing a year in government that has been marked by the purge of his political rivals.
There is no doubt that Tusk will toe the EU line on many issues. His government has made security the Polish presidency’s main priority—ranging from external and internal security to competitiveness, food quality, critical medicines and affordable energy prices. Being one of the most hawkish EU countries, Poland will strive to continue supporting Ukraine militarily.
