Weber: Orbán went home empty-handed

The European Union has shown determination, unity and leadership at the last two EU summits, Charles Michel stated during the European Parliament's plenary session on Tuesday. The head of the European Council pointed out that decisions had been taken to open accession negotiations with Ukraine and Moldova, and to provide €50 billion in assistance to Ukraine and increase the EU budget. (He did not mention that the aid to Ukraine and the changes in the budget were vetoed by Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán in December and were only approved at the February meeting.)

Charles Michel highlighted that the budget increase would provide €14 billion more for such things as managing external migration, strategic industrial sectors, responding to natural disasters and the increased interest rates on EU loans. The Union remains steadfast in its support for Ukraine for as long as needed, because it understands that every euro given to Ukraine is an investment in our own security. The President of the European Council has appealed to the US House of Representatives to approve the US's €60 billion aid package for Ukraine.

Weber: Orbán was not allowed to blackmail the EU

We usually criticise the European Council meetings, but this time I would like to express my thanks, Manfred Weber started. The leader of the European People's Party, which also includes Hungary's smaller ruling party KDNP, said that thanks to everyone's efforts, they had shown unity. Referring to the various conditions that the Hungarian government had set out in exchange for decisions demanding unanimity, he said that they did not allow Viktor Orbán to blackmail the EU. According to Weber, the Hungarian Prime Minister returned to Budapest empty-handed. "I hope that he has become a little more convinced that threats don't work." Instead, his (Orbán's – TN) only chance to achieve anything is to cooperate with Europe and not work against it.

Terry Reintke, leader of the Greens, said that last week was good for Europe, but "I'm honestly asking myself: why only now"? All this could have been done in December. If there is a lesson to be learned from the meeting, it is that Viktor Orbán alone is weaker than the 26 together. This seems like an obvious point, but it apparently did not occur to the leaders of the other 26 states before last week, she said, and called on them to make sure they don't find themselves in this situation again and again in the future.

She believes the 26 should find the courage to take away the option (of veto – ed) from Viktor Orbán, and argued for the continuation of the Article 7 procedure, which the EP has already requested before (The first stage of the procedure was launched against the Hungarian government in 2018 but remains stuck. However, the second stage of the procedure allows for the suspension of certain EU rights of a member state, for example its right to vote in the Council.)

The parliamentary group Fidesz has been eyeing would like to see more support for Ukraine

It's good that an agreement was reached to support Ukraine, but €50 billion is not enough, Johan Van Overtveldt, the leader of the European Conservatives and Reformists (ECR) stressed (Just before the EU summit, Viktor Orbán was quoted in Italian newspapers as saying that Fidesz would join this party family after the EP elections in June). Going forward, it will have to be assessed whether more aid is needed, for example by using frozen Russian assets, so that Ukraine can be provided with stable and sustainable funding. At the same time, "we cannot be naïve" and we need to monitor the use of the money very closely, he said, in line with one of the Hungarian government's objectives.

Deutsch and Cseh on blackmail, but from opposing sides

The streets are filled with hundreds of thousands of European farmers protesting against Brussels' decisions which are destroying EU agriculture, while millions of illegal migrants are pouring in at the EU's defenseless external borders, and "brutal corruption scandals" have been uncovered in the EP and other institutions, Tamás Deutsch said in his speech. The Fidesz politician said that instead of dealing with people's everyday problems, Brussels bureaucrats are still busy blackmailing Hungary, which, unlike them, can protect its borders from migration and its farmers from Ukrainian grain. Things need to change, and come June, the "corrupt and useless Brussels bureaucrats" can be chased away, the politician said, referring to the upcoming EP elections.

EU summits have become truly absurd: another meeting, another Orbán veto threat, Hungarian opposition party Momentum's Katalin Cseh said. Like all narcissists, the Hungarian Prime Minister poses for photos with important people, tries to squeeze money out of them, then folds his cards and gives up his veto – until the next summit. Cseh said that one might even laugh at this dysfunctional system if it were not a matter of life and death. While the European Council has been chewing on a package worth 0.08% of the EU's annual GDP, Ukrainians have been sacrificing everything on the battlefield for their own future and for the security of Europe. But the reality is that it would be far more expensive if Ukraine were to lose. She believes that the EU's founding treaties should be amended and the unanimous decision-making should be abolished.