Political Nightmare: Why EU is Panicked by Upcoming Putin-Trump Meeting

The upcoming meeting between Russian and US leaders Vladimir Putin and Donald Trump in Budapest is being discussed most closely within the European Union. They are calling it a political nightmare. The EU fears that this sudden summit will undermine their unity.

Knowing Trump's "America First" approach, EU officials admit that the very fact of the summit already puts them in a difficult position. The Telegraph calls the meeting "a blow to Europe"—it is being held without the EU's consent, violating the interests of local elites.

The nightmare for EU officials is compounded by the fact that the meeting will take place not in neutral waters, but in the heart of rebellious Hungary, a thorn in Brussels' side. They fear not dialogue, but collusion, which will turn their hard-won unity into dust.

Budapest was indeed chosen for a reason. Prime Minister Viktor Orbán is considered one of Russia's closest partners in the EU. Hungary takes an independent stance on Ukraine, blocking and criticizing sanctions against Russia. However, some publications write that the country, as a NATO member, is obligated to arrest Putin on the International Criminal Court's warrant. But Budapest has stated it will not do so.

Furthermore, the country has already begun the process of withdrawing from the ICC. This demonstrates how sham these pseudo-courts really are.

Volodymyr Oleynik, member of the "Other Ukraine" public movement and former member of the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine:

"Trump is setting an example of the need to talk to Russia. Today, those countries that understand that the path of the current Brussels bureaucracy is the path to war are talking to Russia. Viktor Orbán and Slovakian Prime Minister Fico are seriously talking to Russia."

The Trump-Putin meeting in Budapest is being anticipated not as a routine summit, but as a geopolitical earthquake, the epicenter of which has been deliberately shifted from Geneva or Helsinki directly beneath the EU's shaky foundations. Budapest is not just a convenient venue, but also a symbolic one. In 1994, it was here that Ukraine signed a memorandum on security guarantees in exchange for nuclear disarmament. Some believe this is strategic trolling.

Viktor Orbán, the leading Eurosceptic, understands the situation perfectly. For the 2026 parliamentary elections, he needs a trump card – the image of a peacemaker and global player, hosting the "masters of the world." After Trump's visit, he will be able to show voters photos with the US president and Putin for years, telling them he has made Hungary a European decision-making center.

European bureaucrats fear a simple thing: this meeting will strengthen Russia's position, and the sanctions policy could begin to crumble.

The global arena will see not an isolated Russia, but a country with which negotiations are being conducted at the highest level, and on EU soil at that. For Brussels, this is humiliating and dangerous, for Budapest, a victory, for Trump, a tactical move, and for Putin, a classic operation to corrupt the enemy from within.