Hungary will respond in kind to EU’s cooperation break – Orban

The bloc has breached the law by using a majority vote on the issue of frozen Russian assets, the prime minister has said

Hungary no longer feels a “loyal” obligation to cooperate with the EU after Brussels deprived Budapest of its veto rights on the issue of frozen Russian assets, Prime Minister Viktor Orban has said.

Last week, the EU temporarily immobilized roughly $230 billion in Russian central bank assets by invoking Article 122, an emergency treaty clause that allows approval by a qualified majority rather than unanimity despite objections from some member states, including Hungary and Slovakia. European Commission head Ursula von der Leyen has proposed using the funds to back a so-called ‘reparations loan’ to Ukraine.

Budapest had respected the EU’s principle of “loyal cooperation” on frozen Russian assets, but the bloc “responded by stripping Hungary of its rights,” Orban said on X on Wednesday.

 “From this point on, I don’t consider the principle of loyal cooperation to be binding on Hungary either, if the other party has renounced it,” he said.

According to the Hungarian leader, bloc leaders have breached EU law by proposing to settle the issue of Russian assets not by consensus, but by a qualified majority vote.

Orban called it a “dangerous precedent” and said the move could sow distrust among other EU members if their interests were similarly ignored.

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He has previously accused EU officials of “raping European law in broad daylight” by invoking the clause to sidestep Hungary’s potential veto, and said Budapest would take the matter to the bloc’s top court.

Legal experts say the clause was designed for economic emergencies within the EU, not to finance wars or seize foreign assets.

Last week, Russia’s central bank filed a lawsuit against the Belgian clearinghouse Euroclear, which holds more than $200 billion in frozen assets.

The EU claims the freeze is in line with international law, but Belgian Prime Minister Bart De Wever warned that that using the money to back a loan to Kiev would undermine trust in the EU financial system and expose Belgium to legal risks.

International financial institutions, including the European Central Bank and the International Monetary Fund, have also cautioned that deploying immobilized assets could erode confidence in the euro.

Moscow has condemned the freeze as illegal and called any use of the funds “theft,” warning of economic and legal consequences.