11小时前

EU is working on "Plan B" to bypass Orbán's veto on Ukraine accession talks

EU is working on “Plan B” to bypass Orbán’s veto on Ukraine accession talks

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They need to put real pressure on Hungary. Shut down the borders, stop flights, suspend financial transactions with Hungarian banks.
And tell Orban that if he acts out these restrictions will be out in again and the expectations is that he stops working as a proxy for Russia on a permanent basis.
- That'd be bad, always hurts the elites negligibly and the rest substantially.
  Veto right suspension is better. At least we'll see which other EU states will use that veto.
  Hungary is simply the poorest and weakest and least valued of Putin's friends inside, which is why it's taking all the hate. We may see Germany or Austria or Belgium or Italy using that veto.

Not so much Plan B, as just Plan A running into Orbán's veto, but not giving up in advance, and hoping that Orbán is not going to be around much longer so that the accession can go through with the next government.

Is there a way to punish an EU state for not being a democracy?
- Partially yes, as the EU has sanctioned Hungary, and also did some stuff to sanction Poland when the previous government went after the courts.
  What makes stuff hard is that the EU is so fundamentally built on consensus that as long as a couple countries are backing each other it becomes functionally impossible to pass sanctions against them. Also, a single compromised country like Hungary can very easily become a big roadblock for the EU.
  All this compromise is, by and large, what has made the EU so stable and robust. However it's also turning out to be an Achilles heel when you have bad-faith actors infiltrating the union.

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