Has the EU finally defeated Viktor Orbán over Ukraine?
Hungary's prime minister caved to pressure from fellow leaders following six-week standoff over €50bn Ukraine aid deal

Viktor Orbán has finally dropped his opposition to a €50 billion support package for Ukraine that he had been blocking since December.
The Hungarian prime minister was the sole holdout against the EU funding agreement, but "folded" at a summit last Thursday following a "charm offensive" led by Italian leader Giorgia Meloni, said Politico, and "wining and dining from the French".
Orbán "performed one of the fastest U-turns" seen at an EU leaders' meeting, said The Guardian's Brussels correspondent Lisa O'Carroll, "after six weeks of brinkmanship". Finland's PM Petteri Orpo told reporters in Brussels that "nobody can blackmail 26 countries of the EU".
Subscribe to The Week
Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.

Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
Why was Orbán threatening a veto?
Hungary's right-wing PM "has loomed over Europe like a continental bogeyman", said Ishaan Tharoor in The Washington Post, and "stymied" the bloc's "ability to muster a robust, collective response" to support Ukraine's defence against Russia.
Orbán's recent manoeuvres on the Ukraine aid deal were part of his "intricate dance" to appease both Russia's Vladimir Putin and his own voter base, while adhering to the EU's standards, said Euractiv.
Orbán has long relied on "tools of veiled propaganda", including "national consultations" – opinion polls – to consolidate his "desired narratives". The latest such poll was alleged to have found that 99.04% of participants opposed further financial support for Ukraine until Hungary received some or all of approximately €20 billion of "cohesion funding" currently being withheld by the European Commission".
Hungary draws "vital funds" from Brussels as a member state, said The Washington Post, but "the tap has been partially turned off" in recent years over Orbán's alleged violations of the bloc’s rule-of-law provisions. Concerns have also been raised over his pursuit of an ideology that he calls "illiberal democracy".
A free daily email with the biggest news stories of the day – and the best features from TheWeek.com
How did the EU get Orbán to fold?
Orbán "succumbed to pressure" after a "series of 11th-hour meetings" with Meloni, France's Emmanuel Macron and Germany's Olaf Sholz, said The Guardian's O'Carroll, "as well as the European Commission and Council presidents", Ursula von der Leyen and Charles Michel. The striking of a deal was met with relief, but also "a sense of fury among leaders" who had to be "dragged" to Brussels twice in two months to pass the aid package.
Meloni led conversations with Orbán "thanks to their longstanding relationship", diplomats "from countries that don’t share her far-right political views" reportedly told Politico. "She tried several times to be a bridge and the impression is that this time it worked," said one of the sources.
According to The Washington Post, European officials also "leaked plans to punish Hungary's economy" if Orbán continued blocking support for Ukraine, and "floated other punitive measures" including stripping Budapest of its voting rights in the bloc.
What does Orbán get out of the deal?
The EU leaders won him over with "three additions" to the agreement, Politico reported. Annual discussions on the implementation of the aid package will be held, and an annual report produced. And the European Council will ask the Commission to propose a review of the budget in two years, if needed.
The concessions are seen by the EU as minor, but obtaining a review means Orbán "can proclaim victory at home", the news site added. In a Facebook post following the deal, Orbán wrote: "We fought it out!"
But diplomats reportedly told Reuters that the bloc did not commit to releasing any of Hungary's frozen cohesion funding until Budapest meets certain conditions. These include "respect for the Hungarian minority", according to the BBC's Budapest-based correspondent Nick Thorpe.
And while Orbán claimed to have received assurances that none of Hungary's frozen funding would go to Ukraine, officials said there were never any plans for the cash to be reallocated. Orbán can "save face and say he won a veto right", a diplomat told Reuters, but "that has no teeth".
Keumars Afifi-Sabet is a freelance writer at The Week Digital, and is the technology editor on Live Science, another Future Publishing brand. He was previously features editor with ITPro, where he commissioned and published in-depth articles around a variety of areas including AI, cloud computing and cybersecurity. As a writer, he specialises in technology and current affairs. In addition to The Week Digital, he contributes to Computeractive and TechRadar, among other publications.
-
An ancient Israeli cave teaches new archaeological lessons
The Explainer The cave is believed to be one of the world's oldest burial sites
-
Music reviews: Tyler Childers and Madonna
Feature "Snipe Hunter" and "Veronica Electronica"
-
Art review: Noah Davis
Feature Hammer Museum, Los Angeles, through Aug. 31
-
Eighty years after Hiroshima: how close is nuclear conflict?
Today's Big Question Eight decades on from the first atomic bomb 'we have blundered into a new age of nuclear perils'
-
India rejects Trump threat over Russian oil
Speed Read The president said he would raise tariffs on India for buying and selling Russian oil
-
New White House guidance means federal employees could be hearing more religious talk at work
The Explainer Employees can now try to persuade co-workers that their religion is 'correct'
-
What the CIA just revealed about its Lee Harvey Oswald connection
The Explainer The agency has admitted a key fact about Oswald for the first time
-
Arms for Ukraine and an ultimatum for Russia
Feature Donald Trump reverses course, sending weapons to Ukraine and threatening Russia with tariffs
-
'Singling out crypto for special scrutiny would be misguided'
Instant Opinion Opinion, comment and editorials of the day
-
Melania Trump's intervention on Ukraine
In The Spotlight The first lady has been linked to the president's U-turn on sending arms to Kyiv
-
A Democratic election in Arizona is a microcosm of the party's infighting
The Explainer The top three candidates are fighting it out for a special election seat