Persuasion not pressure will sway Orbán on Ukraine loan, EU hopes

Politico Europe · Feb 26, 2026 · Collected from RSS

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News Politics EU leaders want to avoid a legal blowup with the Hungarian prime minister that could feed into his reelection campaign. Viktor Orbán's move prompted outrage across the EU, with European Council President António Costa warning in a letter earlier this week that the Hungarian leader had violated the EU’s principle of “sincere cooperation.” | Attila Kisbenedek/AFP via Getty Images February 26, 2026 4:00 am CET BRUSSELS — EU leaders are looking for ways to grant Viktor Orbán a face-saving win that would allow him to climb down from blocking funds for Ukraine while avoiding a full-blown legal fight between Brussels and Budapest, according to three EU diplomats. The win could come in the form of a pledge to resume oil flows via the Druzhba pipeline, which carries oil from Russia to Eastern Europe and was damaged in a Russian attack in Ukraine last month, the diplomats said. “He’ll [Orbán] have his goddamned pipeline,” said one of the diplomats with knowledge of the discussions. “This Druzhba story is not credible in any way, but he has to have a victory in his campaign.” Orbán threw the EU’s entire support package for Ukraine into doubt last weekend when he said he would block a €90 billion loan crucial to Ukraine’s wartime survival — as well as the EU’s 20th package of sanctions against Ukraine — unless the pipeline was repaired and oil once again started flowing to Hungary and Slovakia. The EU is caught between Kyiv’s looming cash crunch and avoiding giving the Hungarian leader a political gift, as they are wary Orbán could weaponize a legal showdown on the campaign trail. Ukraine could run out of money by April — the same month Hungarians head to the polls. Orbán’s move prompted outrage across the EU, with European Council President António Costa warning in a letter earlier this week that the Hungarian leader had violated the EU’s principle of “sincere cooperation.” That hinted at potential legal retribution, which could take the form of a so-called Article 7 procedure to strip Budapest of its EU voting rights. But the four diplomats and a senior EU official, all of whom were granted anonymity to speak freely, dismissed the notion of a legal solution to Hungary’s stonewalling. Instead, they argued that leaders should focus on pressuring and cajoling Budapest to drop its veto. “There isn’t time for the legal option,” said one of the diplomats, referring to the possibility of taking Budapest to court over blocking the funds. “There will have to be a political solution.” Coming up with a “piece of paper” that lays out a face-saving pledge to restore Russian oil flows through the Druzhba pipeline is a more feasible way around the problem, two of the diplomats said. This would echo the workaround EU leaders found in October 2025 to Slovakia’s opposition to a phaseout of Russian gas, they noted. Bratislava lifted its veto after leaders added a pledge to their joint post-summit statement that Russian energy should keep flowing to Slovakia. Check the pipeline Orbán triggered one of the EU’s worst internal crises in years last weekend with his opposition to the EU’s support. Budapest’s surprise blockade came days before top EU officials including Costa and von der Leyen were due in Kyiv for the fourth anniversary of Russia’s war on Ukraine — derailing their plans. European Council President António Costa, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy and EU Commission President Ursula von der Leyen in Kyiv on the fourth anniversary of the Russian invasion. Budapest’s surprise blockade came just days before the Feb. 24 anniversary. | Denys Glushko/Apostrophe/Global Images Ukraine via Getty Images EU officials and leaders have reacted with outrage to Orbán’s latest move. In his letter to Orbán, Costa used uncharacteristically sharp language. “When leaders reach a consensus, they are bound by their decision,” he wrote, adding that refusal to follow through with the loan “constitutes a violation of the principle of sincere cooperation.” That warning hinted to moves that Brussels has so far balked at taking with regard to Hungary — including suspending its voting rights around the EU leaders’ table. However, three diplomats told POLITICO that such legal moves were not among the measures discussed when ambassadors met in Brussels this week. Instead, some diplomats meeting this week have called for an EU delegation in Ukraine to be able to go and inspect the pipeline in a bid to counter Orbán’s claims that it has not really been damaged. “But the visit depends on the Ukrainian authorities making this possible, as it is a highly protected site,” said an EU official with knowledge of the back and forth, who added there is an ongoing discussion with Ukrainian authorities about such a visit. Another possibility raised by top EU diplomat Kaja Kallas has been going back to the idea of using Russia’s frozen assets in Europe. Sweden’s EU Affairs Minister Jessica Rosencrantz told POLITICO earlier this week that Stockholm was ready to back the option should it be once again put on the table. But other diplomats poured cold water on that idea. “Costa has stressed that political agreements reached at the EUCO must be respected by member states. We stand by the decision that was taken on 18 December last,” a national official said. Jacopo Barigazzi, Camille Gijs and Gerardo Fortuna contributed reporting.