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Fresh off a hearty Putin handshake, Orban heads into an EU summit on Ukraine
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FILE - Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban speaks during a press conference after talks with Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic at the Serbia Palace in Belgrade, Serbia, Friday, Sept. 29, 2023. Orban will be the center of attention at an EU summit Thursday, Oct. 26, 2023 following his meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin last week. Diplomats say EU leaders will directly confront him with accusations he broke EU unity in their support of Ukraine. - photo by AP Photo/Darko Vojinovic, File
BRUSSELS (AP) — Not so long ago, a European Union leader could heartily call Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban a “dictator” in public and it’d be chuckles all around. Already the recalcitrant EU outsider in 2015, Orban got a ribbing from EU Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker, not only for running a self-professed “illiberal democracy” but also for setting the tone at EU summits where the need for unanimity gives any single leader massive power on a slew of issues. There are very few laughs now.