Orban Hasn’t Totally Derailed the EU, But Danger's Not Over
Agreement among the rest of the EU's leaders to open membership talks with Ukraine and Moldova is historic. But the struggle to get €50 billion in aid over the line is a bad omen.
Viktor Orban, Hungary's prime minister, at a summit of European Union leaders in Brussels.
Photographer: Bloomberg/BloombergHungarian strongman leader Viktor Orban is said to be a fan of Charles De Gaulle. But unlike the Frenchman’s 1960s European boycott that paralyzed policymaking, Orban’s stage-managed exit from this week’s EU leaders’ summit was a boost rather than a crisis for unity with Ukraine. The risk, though, is of bigger fights to come.
The EU leaders’ agreement — minus Orban — to open membership talks with Ukraine and Moldova is a historic, if symbolic, signal and a message to Vladimir Putin and Donald Trump that there’s still momentum behind Kyiv even as US aid hangs in the balance. The alternative would have been a sorry indictment of the bloc’s wider geopolitical ambitions and of Orban’s ability to derail them.