- cross-posted to:
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- cross-posted to:
- [email protected]
EU nations may proceed without Hungary by establishing a new fund outside of the common EU budget that does not require Budapest’s signoff.
That can address things from Ukraine’s standpoint, but it doesn’t really resolve the broader political issue from the EU’s standpoint.
The fundamental problem is that there is a political dispute between Brussels and Orban related to political changes in Hungary. Brussels has decided to put pressure on Orban over it, to use as leverage against him, first with attempting to invoke Article 7 to strip Hungary’s voting rights in the EU, and then with withholding funds. Orban has decided to disrupt EU operations to use as leverage against Brussels.
Orban’s got a bunch of other things that he can block or disrupt. He could do the next EU FTA, say – there, it’s not practical for a subset of EU members to sign an agreement themselves, the way they could potentially do with Ukraine funds.
One way or another, they’re going to have to make a peace at some point.