![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/dk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/GettyImages-2247662027-1024x683.jpg\")
Hungary\u2019s ambassador to the EU B\u00e1lint \u00d3dor, whose position could be under threat under the new government, attends an EU trade ministers\u2019 meeting in Brussels on Nov. 24, 2025. | Thierry Monasse\/Getty Images<\/p>\n\u201cBy definition, everybody understands of each other that the loyalty is to your political bosses and to delivering results to their instructions,\u201d said Ivan Rogers, about national ambassadors to the EU, a role he performed for the U.K. in Brussels until 2017. And, whatever \u00d3dor thought about these instructions personally, he followed them to the letter. <\/p>\n
While even those who worked closely with \u00d3dor were uncertain about whether he was simply following orders or shared Orb\u00e1n\u2019s desire to bash Brussels, his reputation as the outgoing prime minister\u2019s fixer may well be his downfall, according to five diplomats and officials from countries other than Hungary who worked with him closely, and who were granted anonymity to speak to POLITICO.<\/p>\n
It would be easy to think that, given Orb\u00e1n\u2019s loud anti-EU stance, his man in Brussels would be a blunt instrument. Quite the opposite. \u00d3dor is an expert on its treaties and has a PhD in international relations. Universities back home use his books to teach students how Europe works.<\/p>\n
Hungary\u2019s ambassador to the EU B\u00e1lint \u00d3dor, whose position could be under threat under the new government, attends an EU trade ministers\u2019 meeting in Brussels on Nov. 24, 2025. | Thierry Monasse\/Getty Images<\/p>\n
That\u2019s why he was so effective, according to his fellow diplomats. Building any kind of trust within the Brussels bubble when he took over as ambassador in 2022 was a tough task. \u00d3dor arrived in the wake of a spying scandal that saw the embassy itself accused of running intelligence agents under diplomatic cover and amid warnings Budapest was passing information to Moscow. The other leading Hungarian in town, Oliv\u00e9r V\u00e1rhelyi, had also served as ambassador before being nominated by Orb\u00e1n to be the country\u2019s European commissioner, and is still being probed for his involvement in the alleged affair. He denies any wrongdoing.<\/p>\n
\u2018You know he will deliver\u2019<\/p>\n
As Rogers implied, the group of ambassadors in Brussels are often a close-knit bunch. They\u2019re expected to keep a close eye on diplomatic moves by their counterparts, feeding back notes on what other governments are saying or, perhaps more crucially, not saying. They also play an essential role in hammering out compromises and ensuring their countries\u2019 interests are reflected in negotiations. This requires bridge-building skills and strong working relations with other envoys, MEPs and European Commission and Council officials.<\/p>\n
For \u00d3dor, the job wasn\u2019t made easier by Orb\u00e1n\u2019s broadsides at Brussels and his accusations the EU was interfering in its domestic affairs. The ambassador had to build constructive ties with colleagues, while not drawing suspicions back home for being too friendly with them.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"\u201cBy definition, everybody understands of each other that the loyalty is to your political bosses and to delivering…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":65500,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_share_on_mastodon":"0"},"categories":[104],"tags":[211,3267,210,31405,5025,229,425,1157,4930,7779,3039,3504,36008,3654,823,31928,6552,431,238,1866,26460,241,294,1888,4038],"class_list":["post-65499","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-brussels","tag-belgium","tag-brexit","tag-brussels","tag-brussels-bubble","tag-buildings","tag-defense","tag-democracy","tag-diplomacy","tag-elections","tag-hungarian-elections-2026","tag-hungary","tag-intelligence","tag-ivan-rogers","tag-negotiations","tag-oil","tag-oliver-varhelyi","tag-peter-magyar","tag-rule-of-law","tag-russia","tag-services","tag-spying","tag-ukraine","tag-united-kingdom","tag-ursula-von-der-leyen","tag-viktor-orban"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@dk\/116443459462541636","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/dk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/65499","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/dk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/dk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/dk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/dk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=65499"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/dk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/65499\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/dk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/65500"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/dk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=65499"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/dk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=65499"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/dk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=65499"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}