{"id":36371,"date":"2026-04-21T17:25:09","date_gmt":"2026-04-21T17:25:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/people\/36371\/"},"modified":"2026-04-21T17:25:09","modified_gmt":"2026-04-21T17:25:09","slug":"the-great-unblocking-eu-foreign-ministers-eye-sweeping-changes-as-orban-exits-politico","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/people\/36371\/","title":{"rendered":"The great unblocking?\u00a0EU foreign ministers eye sweeping changes as Orb\u00e1n exits \u2013 POLITICO"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>\u201cWe should also revisit long-blocked decisions including opening negotiations with Ukraine,\u201d the bloc\u2019s top diplomat Kaja Kallas told a news conference, also citing sanctions and blocked funding for Ukraine under the EU\u2019s Peace Facility, its mechanism for funding military assistance for Kyiv.<\/p>\n<p>One of the EU diplomats present for closed-door discussions between foreign ministers said: \u201cThere was a totally new mood in the room \u2026 One after the other, the ministers gave their analysis of the situation \u2026 There\u2019s a sense that on so many of these files, perhaps now there is a way forward.\u201d Some of the diplomats spoken to for this story were granted anonymity to discuss the closed-door discussions.<\/p>\n<p>The diplomat mentioned sanctions, but also stronger EU positions on everything from Russia to the Middle East as possibilities once Magyar takes office, which is expected to happen in mid-May.<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1024\" height=\"683\" src=\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/people\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/GettyImages-2271688668-1024x683.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-8310827\"  \/>EU top diplomat Kaja Kallas is pictured at a press conference in Brussels on April 20, 2026. | Nicolas Tucat\/AFP via Getty Images<\/p>\n<p>On Tuesday, Hungary was represented at the Foreign Affairs Council by B\u00e1lint \u00d3dor, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.politico.eu\/article\/viktor-orban-eu-ambassador-fixer-hungary-fall-guy-balint-odor\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Budapest\u2019s long-serving permanent representative in Brussels<\/a>. Foreign Minister P\u00e9ter Szijj\u00e1rt\u00f3 did not attend. \u00d3dor was silent during the gathering\u2019s opening discussions, per the first EU diplomat.<\/p>\n<p>Much of the chatter in Luxembourg centered on a leader who has yet to take office, and whose foreign policy positions are a subject of speculation rather than certainty. \u201cWe\u2019ll have to see exactly how [Hungary\u2019s Prime Minister-elect P\u00e9ter] Magyar behaves \u2026 let\u2019s not forget many of his supporters came from Tisza,\u201d said the second EU diplomat, who hails from a large EU country.<\/p>\n<p>Tsahkna said that, as Orb\u00e1n leaves, other countries that have been \u201chiding behind Hungary\u201d \u2014 letting Budapest absorb public criticism over positions they quietly shared \u2014 could be forced to take more explicit stances. \u201cWe will see this around the enlargement debate,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"\u201cWe should also revisit long-blocked decisions including opening negotiations with Ukraine,\u201d the bloc\u2019s top diplomat Kaja Kallas told&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":36372,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_share_on_mastodon":"0"},"categories":[132],"tags":[466,5816,1065,4569,1490,6259,421,422,243,3100,442,7790,303,304,934,329,1434,11622,305,330,403,350,1764],"class_list":["post-36371","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-viktor-orban","tag-banks","tag-belgium","tag-elections","tag-enlargement","tag-foreign-policy","tag-gaza","tag-hungarian-elections-2026","tag-hungary","tag-israel","tag-johann-wadephul","tag-kaja-kallas","tag-luxembourg","tag-middle-east","tag-pedro-sanchez","tag-peter-magyar","tag-russia","tag-sanctions","tag-slovenia","tag-spain","tag-ukraine","tag-ursula-von-der-leyen","tag-viktor-orban","tag-war-in-iran"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@people\/116443868360883885","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/people\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/36371","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/people\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/people\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/people\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/people\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=36371"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/people\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/36371\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/people\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/36372"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/people\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=36371"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/people\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=36371"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/people\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=36371"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}