Must fear for his power at home: Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban at the EU summit in Brussels.Image: keystone
analysis
Once again it is Viktor Orban who is slowing down the EU. But there is one thing above all behind the blockade of aid to Ukraine: a Hungarian election campaign on a knife’s edge.
Mar 19, 2026, 10:46 p.mMar 19, 2026, 10:49 p.m
Remo Hess, Brussels / ch media
Again and again Viktor Orban: The Hungarian Prime Minister has been in power for 16 years. And for just as long he has been driving the European Union forward with his power politics. He can do this because of the unanimity principle: with a simple veto, he outdoes his 26 colleagues as heads of state and government. And Orban makes plenty of use of it.
Since the Russian attack on Ukraine in 2022, Orban’s veto policy has definitely become a liability for the EU. His closeness to Russia’s ruler Vladimir Putin and his feud with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky brought the confederation to the brink of inability to act several times.
The situation has now escalated in the dispute over the Druzhba pipeline. It supplies Hungary with Russian oil via Ukraine. In January, Putin had the pipeline bombed. Since then, Ukraine has refused to repair them. Why? After all, Orban is always on Putin’s side in everything he does, says Zelensky. So why should he do him the favor?
Orban: “No oil for Hungary – no money for Ukraine”
There’s something about that. Orban has already delayed aid to Ukraine several times in Brussels or weakened sanctions against Russia. But so far they have always managed to compensate for the damage to the land. But not this time.
Because of the Druzhba dispute, Orban used a veto to block a 90 billion euro EU aid loan that Ukraine urgently needs. And at the meeting of EU heads of state and government in Brussels on Thursday, he made it clear that he would not back down from this: “No oil for Hungary, no money for Ukraine – it’s that simple,” said Orban.
It is now clear to everyone in the EU that Orban is not concerned with this issue at all, but with something else: there are elections on April 12th. And it is the first time that Orban has had to seriously fight for power.
His hope is to turn things around. In his campaign he is fully committed to opposing Zelensky, whom he accuses of conspiring with the opposition. Before the elections are over, Orban will not clear his veto. Otherwise, people in Brussels are certain that he would lose his best enemy.
Volodymyr Zelenskyj speaks at the EU summit in Brussels. Image: keystone
The other heads of state and government take note of this with bitter complaints. EU Council President Antonio Costa is said to have told Orban off behind closed doors and said that we couldn’t work together like that, participants report. Chancellor Friedrich Merz recalled that the “principle of loyalty and reliability” was enshrined in the EU treaties. And Orban agreed to the 90 billion loan at the summit in December. Many people see breaking one’s word at the highest level as a breach of trust that has never happened before. Finnish Prime Minister Petteri Orpo spoke of “deception”.
JD Vance should save Orban
But the EU heads of government have their hands tied. They know that everything they do will be used against them in the Hungarian election campaign. So they have no choice but to grit their teeth until the election date in three and a half weeks. This is also possible because Ukraine’s financial situation has eased somewhat, at least in the short term. Actually, she would have run out of money this month. But a short-term $1.5 billion loan from the International Monetary Fund (IMF) should alleviate the greatest hardship by the beginning of May.
However, it is unclear what will happen if, contrary to expectations, Orban wins a fifth mandate. That is not ruled out. The 62-year-old describes himself as a “political street fighter” and ends up offering everything he has. On Monday, Marine Le Pen from France, the Italian Lega leader Matteo Salvini and other comrades from the far-right spectrum will arrive in Budapest for the big election campaign break.
And help is also coming from the USA: After US Secretary of State Marco Rubio was there in mid-February, Vice President JD Vance is also expected to arrive soon and drum up support for Orban, as US media report.
JD Vance is supposed to help Orban out of trouble.Image: keystone
Is that enough? Orban actually would have liked his friend Donald Trump to come in person. But the US President has different problems with the Iran war than the Hungarian election campaign. (aargauerzeitung.ch)