The Brief - Don’t expect Hungary to back down easily

Don’t expect Hungary to back down easily

By Alexandra Brzozowski | @alex_owski

With the EU increasingly bogged down in difficulties in its efforts to provide more support for Ukraine and only a month until a crucial last EU summit of the year, expect Hungary to up its ante.

In the following months, EU leaders will be faced with a series of crucial decisions that will be symbolic of whether they can stick to the slogan of ‘whatever it takes’ to support Ukraine and its future in the bloc.

They are, however, in for a bumpy ride and look towards an uncomfortable four weeks before they lock themselves up in the bright-coloured room at the Europa building in Brussels.

“We need a period of reflection and a strategic discussion on the policy of the EU towards Ukraine,” Hungary’s European Affairs Minister Janos Boka told reporters as he arrived for talks with his EU counterparts to prepare for the 14-15 December summit.

Until such discussion, Budapest would not support any EU decisions to advance Ukraine’s accession process or further aid for Kyiv, Boka said.

This threat is taken slightly more seriously than before.

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Views are the author’s

[Edited by Zoran Radosavljevic/Alice Taylor]