Orbán: Europe's Trump
On Saturday the delegates of the EU council were busy discussing the right form of voting procedure for EU sanctions in regard to Human Rights violations concerning European citizens. When the motion for an unmoderated caucus was proposed, one could witness a picture already seen once before in a similar but still different context:
Victor Orbán, Hungary’s prime minister confidently leaned back on a comfy office chair while the rest of the heads of the government from the other EU council members were standing in a circle around him trying to convince him of agreeing to the Qualified Majority Vote.
Does this picture ring a bell perhaps?
In 2018 the German government published a picture of Donald Trump, the former president of the U.S., sitting back with arms crossed with former German chancellor Angela Merkel facing him, leaning forward and surrounded by other world leaders at the G7 summit.
Here the picture:
For comparison here the picture from the conference’s EU council:
But there’s a little difference: while Trump is the only one sitting on a chair at the G7 summit in 2018, Orbán got joined in sitting by Karl Nehammer, Austria’s chancellor, whilst everyone else is standing. Does this mean the beginning of the comeback of the Austro-Hungarian empire?
For now, this question remains unfortunately unanswered, but Buzzfeed knows indeed that Mister Orbán is enjoying this moment of power. The unanimity vote for the EU Sanctions Regime in the Common Foreign and Security Policy foresees that decisions regarding EU sanctions can only be reached if no member state votes against the decision. So, if one member state isn’t in favor of the sanction, it can easily oppose all the other member states by voting against the sanction - which is exactly what Hungary is doing. Therefore, it is no wonder that Orbán is sitting so confidently in his chair – he knows he has the power to sabotage any kind of decision-making regarding EU sanctions.
If the other EU Council member states will succeed in changing Orbán’s mind to voting for a Qualified Majority Vote for EU sanctions where “a majority of 55% Member States, comprising at least 15 of them and representing Member States comprising at least 65% of the population of the Union” (Art. 16(4) TEU) have to vote for the decision is yet to be seen. But Orbán is not the only one the other EU Council member states have to convince, Italy and Cyprus also have their amusement in opposing everything the other member states propose…