Germany has called for one of the European Union’s most fundamental decision-making rules to be overhauled, with Foreign Minister Johann Wadephul openly arguing that the bloc should move away from unanimity in foreign and security policy. Could Hungarian PM Orbán be the reason?
The proposal comes after weeks of growing frustration in Brussels over Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán’s decision to block a EUR 90 billion EU-backed loan package for Ukraine. This has reignited a debate over whether a single member state should still be able to stall major strategic decisions.
Speaking to Germany’s Funke Media Group, Wadephul said the EU should abolish unanimity in these policy areas before the end of the current legislative cycle in 2029, arguing that the bloc must become more capable of acting decisively on the international stage. He instead backed a qualified majority voting system among the 27 member states, saying recent deadlocks over Ukraine aid and sanctions on Russia had exposed the weaknesses of the current framework, Anadolu Agency writes.
Orbán’s blockade reignites Brussels frustration
The renewed German push follows Hungary’s continued refusal to approve the massive financial package for Kyiv, despite the loan being considered crucial for Ukraine’s wartime budget and defence needs.
Orbán has linked Hungary’s approval to the restoration of Russian oil transit through the Druzhba pipeline, which runs across Ukraine into Central Europe. Budapest has accused Kyiv of deliberately holding back the flow, while Ukrainian officials insist the disruption followed damage caused by a Russian strike and deny any political motivation.
The standoff is just the latest example of Hungary’s increasingly isolated position inside the EU, where Budapest has repeatedly used its veto power to delay or complicate joint decisions on Russia sanctions, Ukraine assistance and foreign policy statements.
A larger EU debate may now be unavoidable
Germany’s intervention is significant because it shows that calls to weaken veto powers are no longer limited to smaller member states frustrated by Hungary’s stance.
In recent weeks, similar concerns have been voiced by other EU leaders and diplomats, many of whom argue that unanimity is becoming unworkable at a time of war on Europe’s borders and mounting geopolitical instability. Orbán’s latest move may therefore accelerate an institutional debate over how the bloc makes its most sensitive decisions.
Wadephul also touched on Hungary’s upcoming 12 April general election, saying it would be up to Hungarian voters to decide their country’s political direction, while adding that Berlin would work with whichever government emerges.
Still, the timing of the German proposal leaves little to no doubt that Orbán’s latest veto battle could cause a potentially historic EU reform debate.
If you missed it: Orbán and Fico push EU to scrap sanctions, restart Russian oil flows immediately
Imagine being blackmailed by a country whom represents 1% of EU GDP. that is how ridiculous are the unanimous rules for policy adoptions
No thanks to VO for missusing his power of veto. Agree with Germany on scraping same as… a majority should suffice.
As for VO and Fico on oil from Russia… NEM. VO you maid the deal with the Devil, and at the same time support a war mongor… guess you forgot 1956 🥴 You don’t know where you are going if, you don’t remember where you came from, disgusting.
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The notion that Russia is the devil, or that we all ought live permanently in the year 1956, is a clear sign the CIA and MI6 news media lives rent free in your body, mind, heart, and soul.
THIS IS THE DEVIL – not in some other people or place.
The “Devil” occupied Hungary for 46 years until he left in 1991. No one can deny that reality.
The cries in 1991 were “Ruszkik haza!”
What you call ‘The Devil’ is the result of Hungarian armies joining the German invasion of Russia.
Not a one-sided event.
That said, it is a terrible thing to lose one’s sovereignty.
I go through the frustration of that all the time, as we, my own White Southern people, have allowed our entire country, Dixie, to be torn up by those alien to us.
Therein lies the Devil, Dear Larry – a people so inundated by conditioning, misinformation, and subversion we ca no longer take it upon ourselves to defend ourselves.
The Devil is an alien spirit.
I love Germany, have lived in Germany, speak German, and some of my mentors, when I was young, were those who fought for Germany in the 1940s.
That said, Germany has always had trouble permitting dissent, and, when I hear modern Germans, particularly the very intolerant Left, carry on about how ‘undemocratic’ Hungary and Russia are, I always think to myself : ‘how little you know yourself, or the rest of the world, for that matter.’
Here is another adventure from Mouton.
He speaks Hungarian, Russian, English, Spanish, German, Polish and a lot of other lies 😂😂😂
If the EU scraps the power of dissent, along with it’s warmongering in Western Russia, insane environmental policies, and election interference in mentor states, not to mention mass migration lunacy, this will be the end of the EU.
Hungary’s EU Veto Power: A Summary
Scale and Frequency
Hungary has established itself as the most frequent and deliberate user of veto power in recent EU history. Since 2022, Hungary has blocked or significantly delayed well over a dozen major EU decisions, concentrated heavily in foreign policy, Ukraine-related aid, and sanctions against Russia. No other current EU member state comes close to this frequency of use.
Most historical vetoes were single-issue, time-limited, and resolved without ongoing pattern of use. Hungary’s approach since 2022 represents something qualitatively different: a systematic, repeated, and cross-domain use of the veto as a permanent negotiating instrument, often explicitly tied to extracting concessions unrelated to the matter being blocked.
Broader Institutional Implications
Hungary’s behavior has accelerated serious debate within the EU about reforming unanimity requirements in foreign and security policy, moving toward qualified majority voting in areas currently requiring consensus. Several member states and EU institutions have formally proposed such reforms, citing the vulnerability exposed by a single member state being able to paralyze collective action. This debate remains unresolved but has gained significant momentum directly as a result of the Hungarian pattern.
Bottom line: Hungary’s veto use is unprecedented in modern EU history in terms of frequency, scope, and its explicitly transactional character. While some underlying concerns have partial legitimacy, the dominant assessment among EU institutions, member states, and independent analysts is that the veto has functioned primarily as political leverage rather than a good-faith exercise of national interest protection.
The Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth occupied a large land mass in central Europe until the late 18th century. It’s parliament (Semj) gave the power of veto to nobles in the Commonwealth. Armies in Germany and Russia were massing against them and they needed to raise funds for an army to defend themselves. Catherine The Great of Russia bribed nobels to use their veto powers to block the creation of an effective army. Russia subsequently successfully invaded. History repeats itself.
This is an excellent comment, Dear Larry, for it demonstrates that not just Russia, but other countries currently considered victims of Russia, were, at numerous times in history the aggressors and victimizers.
The comment is also excellent because it points out to the youngun’s that there is nothing new going on, at this time in history, but, only more of the same.
The actors change, but, not the theatre.
The “nothing is new under the sun” argument sounds philosophical but it’s actually doing something very specific here — it’s using historical complexity as a crowbar to pry apart any clear moral judgment about what is happening right now in Ukraine. Yes, nations have played different roles throughout history. That doesn’t mean all current actors are equally culpable or that aggression today deserves a shrug.
This kind of “wise elder” framing is a well-documented influence operation technique, particularly effective ahead of elections. Make everything seem cyclical, make the young seem naive for caring, make action seem pointless. The theatre metaphor is neat, but real people are dying in real cities. That’s not theatre and it doesn’t deserve to be treated as one.
And so the E.U. continues turning in the CCCP.
Next up, they’ll set up and army which they’ll send to take care of those who dissent from its diktats. It’ll be 1956 all over again, but this time it’ll be EuroArmy tanks on our streets.
Yes, Dear Michael – that is precisely what Bruxelles has become – an updated version of the 1980s’s Kremlin.