London Daily

Focus on the big picture.
Wednesday, Oct 01, 2025

Is it a bluff? Some in Hungary and Poland talk of EU pullout

Is it a bluff? Some in Hungary and Poland talk of EU pullout

An uptick in anti-European Union rhetoric in Hungary and Poland has some observers worried the countries’ right-wing governments might be planning to pull out of the 27-nation trade bloc
When Hungary and Poland joined the European Union in 2004, after decades of Communist domination, their citizens thirsted for Western democratic standards and prosperity.

Yet 17 years later, as the EU ramps up efforts to rein in democratic backsliding in both countries, some of the governing right-wing populists in Hungary and Poland are comparing the bloc to their former Soviet oppressors — and flirting with the prospect of exiting the trade bloc.

“Brussels sends us overlords who are supposed to bring Poland to order, on our knees,” a leading member of Poland’s governing Law and Justice party, Marek Suski, said this month, adding that Poland “will fight the Brussels occupier” as it fought past Nazi and Soviet occupiers.

It’s unclear to what extent this kind of talk represents a real desire to leave the 27-member bloc or a negotiating tactic to counter arm-twisting from Brussels. The two countries are the largest net beneficiaries of EU money, and the vast majority of their citizens want to stay in the bloc.

Yet the rhetoric has increased in recent months, after the EU resorted to financially penalizing members that fail its rule of law and democratic governance standards.

In December, EU lawmakers approved a regulation tying access to some EU funds to a country’s respect for the rule of law. This is seen as targeting Hungary and Poland — close political allies often accused of eroding judicial independence and media freedom, and curtailing minority and migrant rights.

Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban called the so-called rule of law mechanism “a political and ideological weapon” designed to blackmail countries like Hungary that reject immigration. His Polish counterpart, Mateusz Morawiecki, called it “a bad solution that threatens a breakup of Europe in the future.”

The EU’s executive commission has also delayed payment of tens of billions of euros in post-pandemic recovery funds over concerns the two countries’ spending plans do not adequately safeguard against corruption or guarantee judicial independence.

In an interview Thursday with the AP, Hungary’s Foreign Minister Peter Szijjarto was defiant, insisting that the withholding of EU funds would not compel his country to change course.

“We will not compromise on these issues because we are a ... sovereign nation. And no one, not even the European Commission, should blackmail us regarding these policies,” Szijjarto said.

This month, the EU Commission moved to force Poland to comply with the rulings of Europe’s top court by recommending daily fines in a long-running dispute over the country’s judicial system.

This prompted Ryszard Terlecki, deputy head of Poland’s governing party, to say Poland “should think about ... how much we can cooperate,” with the EU and consider “drastic solutions.”

Terlecki later walked back his comments.

Hungary’s Orban has repeatedly insisted that “there is life outside the European Union.” Last month an opinion article in daily Magyar Nemzet — a flagship newspaper allied with Orban’s Fidesz party — said “it’s time to talk about Huxit” — a Hungarian version of Brexit, the U.K.’s departure from the EU last year.

With the finance minister also suggesting Hungary might be better off outside the EU, Orban’s opponents worry he is actually considering that.

Katalin Cseh, a liberal Hungarian EU lawmaker, told The Associated Press it was “outrageous” that senior Fidesz politicians and pundits were “openly calling to consider” Hungary’s EU exit.

“They stand ready to destroy the single greatest achievement of our country’s recent history,” Cseh said.

But Daniel Hegedus, a fellow for Central Europe at the German Marshall Fund, says the Hungarian rhetoric could be “politically calculated leveraging” against the potential loss of EU funding.

“(They are saying), ‘If you don’t give us the money, then we can be even more uncomfortable for you,’” he said.

Recent surveys show that well over 80% of both Poles and Hungarians want to stay in the EU.

This seems to have had an effect on both governments.

In a radio interview last week, Orban said Hungary “will be among the last ones in the EU, should it ever cease to exist.”

Jaroslaw Kaczynski, Poland’s most powerful politician, said last week that the country’s future is in the EU and that there will be “no Polexit.”

Political analyst Jacek Kucharczyk, president of the Institute of Public Affairs, a Warsaw-based think tank, told the AP that while Poland’s ruling party invigorates its nationalist base with its feuds with Brussels, popular support for EU membership constrains its options.

“The result is a kind of balancing act,” Kucharczyk said. “Tough words about the EU and immediate and vehement denials that they want Poland to leave the Union.”

But Polish opposition leader — and former top EU official — Donald Tusk warned that allowing anti-EU rhetoric to grow out of control could unintentionally touch off an unstoppable process.

“Catastrophes like, for example, Brexit, or the possible exit of Poland from the EU, very often happen not because someone planned it, but because someone did not know how to plan a wise alternative,” Tusk said.

With Orban’s party facing tight elections next year and Poland's governing coalition showing strains, battles with the EU can also serve purely domestic political purposes.

Hungary’s anti-EU rhetoric is likely a “test balloon” to gauge public support on how far the government can take its conflicts with the bloc, Hegedus said, and to garner support for the ruling party ahead of elections.

“I think they are framing this whole issue very consciously so that people will associate the European Union with rather controversial issues which are dividing Hungarian society,” he said.

Some European leaders have already run out of patience with both countries.

In July, the Commission started legal action against Poland and Hungary for what it sees as disrespect for LGBT rights.

In June, after Hungary adopted a law that critics said targeted LGBT people, Dutch Prime Minister Mark Rutte said Hungary “has no business” in the EU, and suggested Orban activates the mechanism that precipitated Brexit.

Huxit would be “clearly against the will of Hungarian citizens, who remain staunchly pro-EU,” Cseh, the European Parliament member, said. “And we will fight for our country’s hard-earned place in the European community with everything we’ve got.”
Newsletter

Related Articles

0:00
0:00
Close
Trump Administration Launches “TrumpRx” Plan to Enable Direct Drug Sales at Deep Discounts
Trump Announces Intention to Impose 100 Percent Tariff on Foreign-Made Films
Altman Says GPT-5 Already Outpaces Him, Warns AI Could Automate 40% of Work
Singapore and Hong Kong Vie to Dominate Asia’s Rising Gold Trade
Trump Organization Teams with Saudi Developer on $1 Billion Trump Plaza in Jeddah
Manhattan Sees Surge in Office-to-Housing Conversions, Highest Since 2008
Switzerland and U.S. Issue Joint Assurance Against Currency Manipulation
Electronic Arts to Be Taken Private in Historic $55 Billion Buyout
Thomas Jacob Sanford Named as Suspect in Deadly Michigan Church Shooting and Arson
Russian Research Vessel 'Yantar' Tracked Mapping Europe’s Subsea Cables, Raising Security Alarms
New York Man Arrested After On-Air Confession to 2017 Parents’ Murders
U.S. Defense Chief Orders Sudden Summit of Hundreds of Generals and Admirals
Global Cruise Industry Posts Dramatic Comeback with 34.6 Million Passengers in 2024
Trump Claims FBI Planted 274 Agents at Capitol Riot, Citing Unverified Reports
India: Internet Suspended in Bareilly Amid Communal Clashes Between Muslims and Hindus
Supreme Court Extends Freeze on Nearly $5 Billion in U.S. Foreign Aid at Trump’s Request
Archaeologists Recover Statues and Temples from 2,000-Year-Old Sunken City off Alexandria
China Deploys 2,000 Workers to Spain to Build Major EV Battery Factory, Raising European Dependence
Speed Takes Over: How Drive-Through Coffee Chains Are Rewriting U.S. Coffee Culture
U.S. Demands Brussels Scrutinize Digital Rules to Prevent Bias Against American Tech
Ringo Starr Champions Enduring Beatles Legacy While Debuting Las Vegas Art Show
Private Equity’s Fundraising Surge Triggers Concern of European Market Shake-Out
Colombian President Petro Vows to Mobilize Volunteers for Gaza and Joins List of Fighters
FBI Removes Agents Who Kneeled at 2020 Protest, Citing Breach of Professional Conduct
Trump Alleges ‘Triple Sabotage’ at United Nations After Escalator and Teleprompter Failures
Shock in France: 5 Years in Prison for Former President Nicolas Sarkozy
Tokyo’s Jimbōchō Named World’s Coolest Neighbourhood for 2025
European Officials Fear Trump May Shift Blame for Ukraine War onto EU
BNP Paribas Abandons Ban on 'Controversial Weapons' Financing Amid Europe’s Defence Push
Typhoon Ragasa Leaves Trail of Destruction Across East Asia Before Making Landfall in China
The Personality Rights Challenge in India’s AI Era
Big Banks Rebuild in Hong Kong as Deal Volume Surges
Italy Considers Freezing Retirement Age at 67 to Avert Scheduled Hike
Italian City to Impose Tax on Visiting Dogs Starting in 2026
Arnault Denounces Proposed Wealth Tax as Threat to French Economy
Study Finds No Safe Level of Alcohol for Dementia Risk
Denmark Investigates Drone Incursion, Does Not Rule Out Russian Involvement
Lilly CEO Warns UK Is ‘Worst Country in Europe’ for Drug Prices, Pulls Back Investment
Nigel Farage Emerges as Central Force in British Politics with Reform UK Surge
Disney Reinstates ‘Jimmy Kimmel Live!’ after Six-Day Suspension over Charlie Kirk Comments
U.S. Prosecutors Move to Break Up Google’s Advertising Monopoly
Nvidia Pledges Up to $100 Billion Investment in OpenAI to Power Massive AI Data Center Build-Out
U.S. Signals ‘Large and Forceful’ Support for Argentina Amid Market Turmoil
Nvidia and Abu Dhabi’s TII Launch First AI-&-Robotics Lab in the Middle East
Vietnam Faces Up to $25 Billion Export Loss as U.S. Tariffs Bite
Europe Signals Stronger Support for Taiwan at Major Taipei Defence Show
Indonesia Court Upholds Military Law Amid Concerns Over Expanded Civilian Role
Larry Ellison, Michael Dell and Rupert Murdoch Join Trump-Backed Bid to Take Over TikTok
Trump and Musk Reunite Publicly for First Time Since Fallout at Kirk Memorial
Vietnam Closes 86 Million Untouched Bank Accounts Over Biometric ID Rules
×