Left-wing MEPs have called on Brussels to revoke Hungary’s veto power as its Prime Minister Viktor Orbán refused to join the bloc line on the Ukraine war during the ongoing special European Council Summit.
Leading the charge was German Green MEP Daniel Freund, a longtime Orbán critic, who has demanded the European Union invoke Article 7 to punish Hungary for its refusal to back a joint declaration on Ukraine.
“Strenghen Europe. Step 1: Strip Orbán of his veto! Article 7 NOW,” he wrote on X on March 3.
Article 7 allows Brussels to suspend a member state’s EU voting rights if it is deemed to be violating the bloc’s values.
Hungarian officials fired back on X, with Orbán’s spokesman Zoltan Kovacs slamming Freund as one of the “madmen of the continent” and tagging an account dedicated to exposing “retarded people” online.
It was not the first time that Freund has entered a public spat with Hungarians.
During country’s Presidency of the Council of the EU, in October he called the Hungarian PM the “most corrupt politician”.
??STRENGTHEN EUROPE??
Step 1:
Strip Orban of his veto! Article 7 NOW!— Daniel Freund (@daniel_freund) March 3, 2025
Another left-wing MEP, Daniel Boeselager, founder of the pan-European and EU-Federalist movement Volt, urged EU leaders to take action against Hungary.
“There is a democratic tool to remove Orban‘s voting rights. We need enhanced cooperation on defence,” he said on March 2.
“Wake up, European leaders. Time is running through your hands. Unite,” he added.
These comments followed Orban’s letter to European Council President Antonio Costa in which he told Costa that Hungary had strategic differences with the bloc over Ukraine.
“It has become evident that Hungary has strategic differences in our approaches to Ukraine that cannot be bridged by drafting or communication,” the Hungarian PM wrote on March 1.
He asked the EU to align itself with the US stance on conflict resolution.
“I am convinced that the European Union should enter direct discussion with Russia on a ceasefire and sustainable peace in Ukraine,” he said.
“I propose not to attempt adopting a written conclusion on Ukraine at the Special European Council,” he added.
Slovakia has joined Hungary in refusing to sign the EU’s joint declaration on Ukraine, with Slovakian Prime Minister Robert Fico challenging Brussels’ approach to the conflict.
REGARDING YESTERDAY’S TRUMP – ZELENSKY MEETING pic.twitter.com/T9C4aHdXDh
— Robert Fico ?? (@RobertFicoSVK) March 1, 2025
Fico criticised the EU’s strategy, accusing the its leaders of wanting to prolong the war.
“Slovakia proposes, among other things, the necessity of an immediate ceasefire (regardless of the moment a final peace agreement is reached), which [Ukrainian] President [Volodymyr] Zelenskyy and a large number of EU member states reject,” he wrote on March 1 following the meeting with Volodymyr Zelensky and Donald Trump on February 28.
“Slovaka has a reservation about the peace-through-strength strategy, which is only intended to serve as a justification for continuing the war in Ukraine,” he added.
Fico also demanded that any EU conclusion contained a clear provision on the restoration of gas transit through Ukraine to Slovakia and Western Europe.
“If the summit does not respect that there are other opinions besides simply continuing the war, the European Council may not be able to agree on conclusions regarding Ukraine on Thursday [March 6],” he added.
