On 1 February, an extraordinary EU summit will be held on the Ukraine aid.
At the summit in December, Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban vetoed granting 50 billion euros to Ukraine over a four-year period.
May be banned
If he says no this time too, it could cost Hungary dearly, say five EU diplomats to the newspaper Politico.
– If Orban really blocks an agreement again, the use of Article 7 to deprive Hungary of the right to vote could become a real possibility, says one of them.
Hungary may thus be barred from decisions in the Council of Ministers.
– It’s about time
Professor of European politics Steven Van Hecke at the University of Leuven points out that the irritation towards Hungary is at a record high.
– It is clear that the EU’s heads of state and government are fed up with Orban. It is time for Orban to understand that the Article 7 threat actually exists, he says.
Article 7 is often called the EU’s “nuclear button” and is the most serious political sanction that the EU can apply. Until now it has never been used.
The EU Parliament already opened an Article 7 process against Hungary in 2018. But the process has been at a standstill for a long time.
2024-01-26 14:02:34
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