MEP Gahler: If Orban is not re-elected, Fico and Babis will not dare to oppose EU

If power changes in Hungary, the governments of Slovakia and the Czech Republic will not dare to oppose the European Union's policy toward Ukraine.

MEP Michael Gahler from the European People's Party said this in an interview with Ukrinform.

"We hope that after the 12th of April, when Orban is gone, Fico alone or Fico and Babis, they won't dare to oppose the EU line," Gahler said.

He added that Orban and Fico have no standing in the largest part of Europe.

"I think everybody knows where they stand, and we regret that we have this mechanism of decision making," Gahler said, referring to the requirement for consensus among all EU members to adopt many decisions important for Ukraine.

According to him, it is now necessary to be "very creative now to bypass it [the veto], and we will find the way."

He also expressed dissatisfaction with how the Hungarian leader failed to keep his word: first voting in favor of a European loan for Ukraine in December 2025 during a meeting of the European Council, and later blocking the process of launching it, even though Hungary, together with Slovakia and the Czech Republic, would not have borne the financial burden under the EU member states' "enhanced cooperation" mechanism.

Gahler added that, in the worst-case scenario, the loan could be approved by the so-called Coalition of the Willing outside the legal framework of the EU treaties, since in that case no dissenting country would be able to block it.

"But in the end, I'd like to assure you that Ukraine will get the money in time, no doubt," the MEP concluded.

European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen said during a visit to Kyiv on February 24 that the European Union would provide a EUR 90 billion loan to Ukraine for 2026-2027 "one way or the other."

Photo: Reiner Wenning