Viktor Orbán's government is setting up an anti-Ukraine bloc within the EU / Who are Hungary's allies?
Hungary plans to join forces with the Czech Republic and Slovakia to form a Kiev-skeptic alliance within the EU, a senior political adviser to Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán told Politico.
Viktor Orbán hopes to work with Andrej Babiš, whose right-wing populist party recently won parliamentary elections in the Czech Republic, as well as Slovak Prime Minister Robert Fico, to align their positions ahead of meetings of EU leaders, including by holding pre-summit meetings, the adviser said.
Although a firm political alliance is still a long way off, its formation could significantly hinder the EU's efforts to financially and militarily support Ukraine.
“I think it will come – and it will be more and more visible,” said the prime minister's political director, Balázs Orbán, when asked about the possibility of a Ukraine-skeptic alliance starting to act as a bloc in the European Council.
“It worked very well during the migration crisis. That's how we were able to hold out,” he said, referring to the so-called Visegrad 4 grouping of Hungary, the Czech Republic, Slovakia and Poland, at a time when the Eurosceptic Law and Justice Party was in power in Warsaw after 2015.
Visegrad 4
Then-Polish Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki led the alliance, with the “V4” group promoting pro-family policies as well as strong external borders for the EU and opposing any mandatory resettlement of migrants between member countries.
The Visegrad 4 alliance fell apart after Russia's large-scale invasion of Ukraine, with Poland adopting aggressive positions towards Moscow and Hungary taking the opposite position.
A new Visegrad alliance would have three members, not four. Poland's current center-right prime minister, Donald Tusk, is a staunch supporter of Ukraine and is unlikely to enter into an alliance with Orbán.
Fico and Babiš, however, took up the Hungarian leader's views on Ukraine, calling for dialogue with Moscow instead of economic pressure.
Even so, it could take some time for any version of the Visegrad alliance to reform. Although he was re-elected prime minister of Slovakia in 2023, Fico did not get to formally ally with the Hungarian leader in certain political areas.
And Babiš has yet to form a government after his party's recent electoral victory.
Looking for new partners
Hungary's efforts to forge political alliances in Brussels go beyond the European Council, Balázs Orbán said.
The Hungarian prime minister's Fidesz party — part of the far-right Patriots for Europe group — could expand its partnerships in the European Parliament, he said, naming the right-wing European Conservatives and Reformists group, the far-right Europe of Sovereign Nations group and “some left-wing groups” among potential allies.
Mainstream parties such as the center-right European People's Party could sooner or later turn against European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen, destroying the centrist majority that supported her re-election, the adviser said.
“So this reconstruction of (Visegrad 4) is underway. We have the third largest European parliamentary faction. We have a network of think tanks, which is very widespread here (in Brussels) and also has a transatlantic branch. And we are looking for partners, allies for every subject,” the adviser said.
The Mathias Corvinus Collegium, a think tank that receives most of its funding from allies of the Hungarian leader and is chaired by Balázs Orbán, has expanded its presence in Brussels since its launch in 2022.
The Hungarian prime minister, who has been in power for 15 years, faces a re-election battle next year. Opposition leader Péter Magyar's Tisza party is currently more popular than Orbán's Fidesz party, according to polls.
