That about summs it up…
““We cannot exclude the first neither free, nor fair election in an EU member state [and] a situation where the US administration will immediately recognise the outcome,” Hegedüs said.
This raises a challenge for EU diplomats, who have long argued the best way to solve the “Orbán problem” – like the “Poland problem” before it – is to wait for change at the ballot box.
Strik thinks it is the wrong approach. The Dutch MEP wants the commission to speak out more, seek a European court suspension order on the ban of LGBTQ+ events, and redistribute Hungary’s forfeited EU funds to civil society and local government: the Hungarian government lost €1bn in EU funds in 2024 over rule-of-law noncompliance, while a further €19bn is blocked.
“He [Orbán] should be under huge pressure from the EU to change his course,” said Strik.” (Source: https://www.theguardian.com/world/2025/apr/19/orban-ukraine-hungary-eu-relations-kyiv? )
I’ve nothing to add except that the EU has few levers to pull member States back into the fold of “shared values” and #Hungary is by no means the only ‘thorn’ in the #EU ‘s side.