“We should also revisit long-blocked decisions including opening negotiations with Ukraine,” the bloc’s top diplomat Kaja Kallas told a news conference, also citing sanctions and blocked funding for Ukraine under the EU’s Peace Facility, its mechanism for funding military assistance for Kyiv.
One of the EU diplomats present for closed-door discussions between foreign ministers said: “There was a totally new mood in the room … One after the other, the ministers gave their analysis of the situation … There’s a sense that on so many of these files, perhaps now there is a way forward.” Some of the diplomats spoken to for this story were granted anonymity to discuss the closed-door discussions.
The diplomat mentioned sanctions, but also stronger EU positions on everything from Russia to the Middle East as possibilities once Magyar takes office, which is expected to happen in mid-May.
On Tuesday, Hungary was represented at the Foreign Affairs Council by Bálint Ódor, Budapest’s long-serving permanent representative in Brussels. Foreign Minister Péter Szijjártó did not attend. Ódor was silent during the gathering’s opening discussions, per the first EU diplomat.
Much of the chatter in Luxembourg centered on a leader who has yet to take office, and whose foreign policy positions are a subject of speculation rather than certainty. “We’ll have to see exactly how [Hungary’s Prime Minister-elect Péter] Magyar behaves … let’s not forget many of his supporters came from Tisza,” said the second EU diplomat, who hails from a large EU country.
Tsahkna said that, as Orbán leaves, other countries that have been “hiding behind Hungary” — letting Budapest absorb public criticism over positions they quietly shared — could be forced to take more explicit stances. “We will see this around the enlargement debate,” he said.