Viktor Orban has proved he’s a shrewd negotiator

All eyes were on Hungary’s Viktor Orbán at yesterday’s EU summit in Brussels. The issue at stake was simple but vital. The EU wanted to provide €50 billion (£43 billion) in aid to Ukraine over four years, but this use of the bloc’s funds required unanimity from all member states. Orbán remained unconvinced. But would he continue unmovable, or would he budge? And if so what price would he demand?

Hungary has always been concerned to keep as judiciously uncommitted as possible in the Russia – Ukraine conflict. Orban was instinctively unhappy about supporting the EU’s stance that was, whatever its virtues, highly partisan. Besides, he had other bones to pick with Brussels, such as its continued withholding of some €20 billion (£17 billion) in Covid funds over a dispute about the rule of law in Hungary, following concerns from the bloc over judicial independence and political interference in the country.