After Kyiv expressed readiness for an immediate ceasefire following US–Ukraine talks in Saudi Arabia, EU leaders issued statements suggesting—or even claiming—that they had always been working toward peace. However, as the lone voice advocating for peace within the EU for a long time, Hungary knows precisely that Brussels has done quite the opposite over the past three years. Our commentary.
Donald Trump is reportedly considering relocating some 35,000 US soldiers from Germany to Hungary. Viktor Orbán has long advocated for strengthening European defence and establishing a joint European army, while also fully meeting Hungary’s NATO commitments on defence spending. At the same time, Hungary remains the only EU country that shares the United States’ position on Ukraine. But how likely is this plan to materialize?
‘Europe is marching itself off a cliff. Hungary must avoid marching with them,’ political director to the Hungarian prime minister Balázs Orbán said in response to French President Emmanuel Macron’s speech on Wednesday. As EU leaders gather in Brussels today, pro-war leaders have doubled down on their rhetoric against peace, threatening to undermine fragile peace talks.
Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán is travelling to Paris to meet French President Emmanuel Macron for bilateral talks on Ukraine, as European leaders prepare for a decisive emergency summit on Thursday. While Europe has attempted to signal its readiness to fill the void left by Donald Trump’s halt on all military aid to Ukraine, Volodymyr Zelenskyy appears to prefer Washington’s support.
‘Since 1945 America has been the one country that’s been the readiest to stand sentinel to others’ freedom, to do as much for others as they were prepared to do for themselves; often without the honour it deserved for being the policeman that a freer and fairer world will always need.’
‘It is true that it seemed as if both Trump and Vance berated Zelenskyy as if he were a child who refused to do his homework, saying that he was not grateful enough for U.S. aid. And I do not wish to exonerate their behavior, either, but one has to place things into context: it was Zelenskyy who sparked the fire.’
US President Donald Trump has moved to halt all military aid to Ukraine following a heated clash with his Ukrainian counterpart in the Oval Office on Friday. The decision comes as European leaders prepare to meet on Thursday to determine the EU’s strategy, with an overwhelming majority favouring continued military support over peace negotiations.
Hungary maintains regular dialogue with the US administration as it advocates for peace in Ukraine, Foreign Minister Péter Szijjártó stated, while warning of irreconcilable differences within the EU regarding the continuation of the war.
‘Why then would the U.S. now wish to abandon to uphold and defend the sovereign rights of a free country? Quite simply, because the Ukrainians do not have the manpower anymore to fend off Russian forces, let alone the political clout to regain its lost territories, including Crimea, regardless of European support.’
President Volodymyr Zelenskyy of Ukraine travelled to Washington, DC to sign the agreement that would create a co-owned fund between the US and Ukraine that would manage Ukraine’s rare earth minerals. However, the meeting came to a premature end, as President Trump asked Zelenskyy to leave after a tense discussion in front of the media, cancelling their scheduled lunch and joint press conference.
Hungarian Conservative is a quarterly magazine on contemporary political, philosophical and cultural issues from a conservative perspective.
