How Viktor Orbán’s Balloon Burst at the EU Summit ⋆ Visegrad Insight

Viktor Orbán's grandstanding finally runs its course as he folds over aid for Ukraine

2 February 2024

Adam Jasser

Deputy Managing Editor

Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán, Donald Trump’s favourite “strong leader”, caved in without a fight at the EU summit as fellow leaders made clear they were ready for a harsh response to his intransigence over aid for Ukraine and pro-Russian course.

Viktor Orbán had it coming. For 14 years, the Hungarian Prime Minister had been running circles around fellow EU leaders with his mixture of arrogance, joviality and blackmail to disrupt the bloc’s agenda in order to get what he wanted – a flow of funds and a free rein to reshape Hungary into a semi-authoritarian fiefdom of his ruling Fidesz party.

The EU’s big stick

Until the Russian invasion of Ukraine in February 2022, his tactic of badmouthing the EU, rubbing shoulders with Vladimir Putin and imitating some of his narratives about the inevitable Western demise were seen as amusing irritants by fellow EU leaders.

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Adam Jasser

Deputy Managing Editor

Since 2021, Adam has co-hosted a foreign policy podcast “About the World at Onet” for Poland’s leading web portal onet.pl. He has worked as a business and policy consultant, including with the World Bank on competition, privatisation and regulatory reforms in transition economies. In 2014-16, Adam was head of the Polish competition authority. He served as Secretary of State in the Chancellery of Prime Minister Donald Tusk in 2010-14. He was Secretary of the PM’s Economic Council and oversaw the analytical and policy impact assessment department. Before joining the government, Adam was Programme Director at Warsaw-based think-tank demosEuropa – Centre for European Strategy. Earlier, he spent almost 20 years at Reuters news agency, in roles stretching from translator and head of economic reporting in Warsaw, to bureau chief in Frankfurt and regional editor for central Europe, Balkans and Turkey.