Orbán cabinet working to build ‘anti-Ukraine alliance’: allies revealed

Hungary is seeking to reinforce its political alliances in Brussels and is working to build an “Ukraine-skeptic alliance” with Slovakia and the Czech Republic, Balázs Orbán, the prime minister’s political director, has said in an interview to news portal Politico.

Orbán cabinet working to build ‘anti-Ukraine alliance’

Prime Minister Viktor Orbán has hopes for cooperation with Andrej Babis, whose party has won Czechia’s recent election, and Slovak counterpart Robert Fico, under which they could come up with a unified position on the matter before the upcoming European Union summit, the political director said in the interview published on Tuesday.

“I think it will come — and be more and more visible,” the political director said, when asked about the potential for a Ukraine-skeptic alliance to start acting as a bloc in the European Council.

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The Hungarian government’s efforts to build political ties were not restricted to the European Council, Orbán said, adding that in the European Parliament the Patriots group could also build partnerships with the European Conservatives and Reformers as well as with the Europe of Sovereign Nations and some leftist groups.

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Meanwhile, he said parties in the European mainstream, such as the European People’s Party, could turn against EC President Ursula von der Leyen “sooner or later“, destroying the centrist majority that supported her re-election.