Hungary Breaks Ranks: Ukraine Gets EU Green Light
As Brussels prepares its 21st sanctions package, Chinese support for Moscow has become the elephant in every diplomatic room.
Hungary Breaks Ranks: Ukraine Gets EU Green Light
David O'Sullivan sits in his Brussels office and watches two years of Hungarian obstruction dissolve in a single afternoon. Viktor Orbán's government has lifted its veto on Ukraine's EU accession talks, clearing the path for Kyiv and Moldova to begin formal negotiations on membership fundamentals. The breakthrough comes as Europe scrambles to present a united front while managing multiple crises from the Middle East to the South China Sea.
The timing isn't coincidental. O'Sullivan, the EU's sanctions envoy, has been wrestling with what he calls China's "very big problem" — Beijing's systematic undermining of European sanctions against Russia. As Brussels prepares its 21st sanctions package, Chinese support for Moscow has become the elephant in every diplomatic room. Hungary's capitulation suggests even Putin's closest European ally recognises the shifting winds.
But Europe's bigger gamble is playing out in the cloud. The EU launched its most ambitious technology independence project this week, betting billions on breaking American and Chinese dominance in semiconductors and cloud computing. The initiative reads like Europe's answer to decades of digital colonialism — a continent tired of watching Silicon Valley and Shenzhen write the rules for the future economy.
The strategy reflects hard lessons learned during the pandemic, when supply chain dependencies became national security vulnerabilities overnight. European officials speak privately about the humiliation of begging American tech giants for data sovereignty and watching Chinese manufacturers hold critical industries hostage. The new push aims to create genuinely European alternatives, though skeptics question whether Brussels can move fast enough to catch up with established players.
Meanwhile, in New York, Bangladesh's top diplomat Khalilur Rahman secured the presidency of the UN General Assembly's 81st session in a surprisingly tight race. The victory signals South Asia's growing influence in global governance, as traditional power centres grapple with multiple simultaneous crises.
The convergence feels deliberate. As Ukraine edges closer to European integration and Europe pushes for technological autonomy, the old post-Cold War order continues its slow-motion collapse. Every diplomatic breakthrough now carries the weight of reshaping alliances that seemed permanent just five years ago.
The irony isn't lost on anyone paying attention: Hungary's veto lifted just as China's sanctions-busting activities force Europe to reconsider which partnerships actually serve European interests. Sometimes the path to independence begins with admitting which dependencies have become too expensive to maintain.
