Hungary is taking over today the rotating presidency of the EU, which will be monitored more closely than usual due to the policies pursued by Budapest in recent years that have led to Hungary's isolation within the EU.

Hungary will preside over the Council of the EU for the next six months under the slogan “Make Europe Great Again” (MEGA), borrowed from former U.S. President Donald Trump, who won the 2016 election with the slogan “Make America Great Again” (MAGA).

Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban is known as a strong opponent of liberal Western values and the “alienated Brussels bureaucracy.”

His party, Fidesz, left the European People's Party in 2021 after facing expulsion from the group. Today, it is attempting to form a new parliamentary group in the European Parliament with far-right parties.

Orban maintains good relations with China and Russia and has been blocking EU decisions on aid to Ukraine for the past two years. He accuses the EU and centrist parties in the European Parliament of advocating for “war, migration, and stagnation instead of peace, order, and development.”

“European bureaucrats continuously send public money to Ukraine, while sanctions have crippled European businesses, driven inflation, and plunged millions of citizens into trouble,” he recently told Hungarian media.

Budapest opposes the recently adopted EU Pact on Migration and Asylum and calls for a “rational debate” on the EU's policy on the Russian war in Ukraine. “Saying that Vladimir Putin must not win is not enough,” Orban said.

However, Hungarian European Affairs Minister Janos Boka and Permanent Representation to the EU announced that during their EU presidency, they will act as neutral and “fair intermediaries”.

“We can show the direction, start conversations, but we will always act as fair intermediaries,” Boka said while presenting the presidency programme.

“This will be a presidency like any other. We will be fair intermediaries, and we will sincerely cooperate with EU member states and institutions,” said Hungarian Ambassador to the EU Balint Odor.

Hungary has highlighted several priorities in its presidency programme – strengthening the competitiveness of the European economy, enhancing the defence industry, signing partnership agreements with third countries to protect external borders and address the causes of migration, accelerating enlargement to the Western Balkans, strengthening cohesion and agricultural policy, and addressing demographic challenges.

Hungary is taking over the presidency from Belgium, which managed to close over 60 legislative proposals in the past six months, including the Pact on Migration and Asylum, new fiscal rules, and the Nature Restoration Law, which member states had long struggled to agree on.

This legislative success was likely influenced by the upcoming Hungarian presidency, as EU member states rushed to complete as much work as possible, fearing the blockades to which Budapest has accustomed them.

During Belgium's presidency, the EU reached a consensus on new financial support for Ukraine, including using frozen Russian assets. Accession negotiations with Ukraine and Moldova were officially opened, and the 13th and 14th packages of sanctions against Russia were adopted.