LUXEMBOURG — In a room long shaped by stalemate and frustration, the mood among EU foreign ministers on Tuesday was notably lighter.
Ministers meeting in Luxembourg for the first time since Viktor Orbán’s electoral defeat said the prospect of new leadership in Budapest had injected fresh hope into talks that for years had been weighed down by Hungarian obstruction.
From aid for Ukraine to sanctions against violent West Bank settlers and the EU’s stalled efforts to bring in new countries, diplomats who spoke to POLITICO on the meeting’s sidelines said they believe long-frozen dossiers could now start moving again.
“It was really depressing to gather in the foreign council because everyone knew that whatever we talk about, we are not going to make progress,” Estonian Foreign Minister Margus Tsahkna told POLITICO, referring to “years and years” of Orbán wielding his foreign policy veto to block pro-Ukraine measures.
“Now there is definitely a new feeling in the room … I wouldn’t say ecstatic, but it’s definitely more hopeful,” he said.
Tsahkna added that he had just spoken by phone with Anita Orbán, who has been named as Hungary’s next foreign minister. “She told me that Hungarians chose Europe.”
A week after Hungary’s historic election result, the effects are already being felt.
Orbán signaled on Sunday that Budapest could remove its veto on the €90 billion loan to Ukraine as early as this week, following a visit to Budapest by top European Commission officials, including Ursula von der Leyen’s powerful chief of staff, Bjoern Seibert.
But the diplomats in Luxembourg said they were looking to clinch further wins, including unblocking a 20th package of sanctions against Russia, new sanctions against violent West Bank settlers that were backed by all EU countries except for Hungary, and even the EU’s enlargement agenda, which has been stalled partly due to Orbán’s refusal to consider Ukraine’s membership in the bloc.
“We should also revisit long-blocked decisions including opening negotiations with Ukraine,” the bloc’s top diplomat Kaja Kallas told a news conference, also citing sanctions and blocked funding for Ukraine under the EU’s Peace Facility, its mechanism for funding military assistance for Kyiv.
One of the EU diplomats present for closed-door discussions between foreign ministers said: “There was a totally new mood in the room … One after the other, the ministers gave their analysis of the situation … There’s a sense that on so many of these files, perhaps now there is a way forward.” Some of the diplomats spoken to for this story were granted anonymity to discuss the closed-door discussions.
The diplomat mentioned sanctions, but also stronger EU positions on everything from Russia to the Middle East as possibilities once Magyar takes office, which is expected to happen in mid-May.
On Tuesday, Hungary was represented at the Foreign Affairs Council by Bálint Ódor, Budapest’s long-serving permanent representative in Brussels. Foreign Minister Péter Szijjártó did not attend. Ódor was silent during the gathering’s opening discussions, per the first EU diplomat.
Much of the chatter in Luxembourg centered on a leader who has yet to take office, and whose foreign policy positions are a subject of speculation rather than certainty. “We’ll have to see exactly how [Hungary’s Prime Minister-elect Péter] Magyar behaves … let’s not forget many of his supporters came from Tisza,” said the second EU diplomat, who hails from a large EU country.
Tsahkna said that, as Orbán leaves, other countries that have been “hiding behind Hungary” — letting Budapest absorb public criticism over positions they quietly shared — could be forced to take more explicit stances. “We will see this around the enlargement debate,” he said.
There is also little sign that familiar divisions that have long dogged EU foreign policy — particularly over Israel and the Middle East — are going anywhere fast.
Tuesday’s huddle in Luxembourg offered a chance for Spain, Belgium and Slovenia to press for suspending the EU-Israel Association Agreement, which governs commercial relations between Israel and the bloc, over a controversial death penalty law, settler violence and ongoing humanitarian concerns in Gaza.
“Israel’s attitude is completely unacceptable,” Belgian Foreign Minister Maxime Prévot said on his way into the gathering. “It’s obvious that we must be able to speak louder on sanctions.”
But that effort, which Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez endorsed at a left-wing summit in Barcelona last weekend, is unlikely to move forward — even without Orbán’s acolytes around the Foreign Affairs Council table.
The suspension of the EU agreement with Israel is “in our view, inappropriate,” German Foreign Minister Johann Wadephul said on his way into the meeting.
Source:
www.politico.eu
