Nobody was really surprised when Hungary revealed an official slogan with Donald Trump overtones recently for its six-month stint holding the EU presidency, but "Make Europe Great Again" still raised a few eyebrows in Brussels.
Hungary's ultranationalist, populist prime minister, Viktor Orban, a close ally of former US President Trump, is the most outspoken euroskeptic leader in the European Union.
In the past decade, his government has clashed with EU officials and other member states over domestic democratic backsliding, migration and, most recently, the bloc's military support for Ukraine.
Budapest has frequently deployed its veto in key votes, stalling policies when all others were ready to proceed. It has had billions of euros of EU funds initially withheld due to democracy and rule of law violations, though some of this has since been released following reforms. And only last week Hungary was fined €200 million ($216 million) for flouting EU asylum law.
The presidency of the Council of the EU is a six-month rotating position that gets passed between the 27 members states. Given that the presidency's role is to act as an "honest broker" among the members and rise above national intererest, and that the country holding the presidency is responsible for pushing ahead the bloc's legislative agenda, the European Parliament had questioned Budapest's fitness for the task.
Last June, a majority of EU lawmakers passed a resolution asking "how Hungary will be able to credibly fulfill this task in 2024, in view of its non-compliance with EU law."
But this nonbinding objection never went anywhere.
On July 1, Hungary will begin chairing ministerial meetings and summits, taking over the baton from current presidency holder Belgium. Until the end of the year, it will also represent other member states in negotiations with the European Parliament and the European Commission, the EU's executive branch.
At a recent press conference in Budapest, Hungarian Minister for EU Affairs Janos Boka vowed his country would work productively. "As a presidency, we will be honest brokers working loyally with all member states and institutions," Boka said.
Boka said Hungary would strive during its term to boost EU economic competitiveness, beef up defense policy, strive for a "consistent and merit-based enlargement policy," and stem illegal migration with tighter borders and more efficient deportations in cooperation with non-EU countries.
In addition, Budapest would aim to reshape the Cohesion Fund, which seeks to close the gaps between richer and poorer regions, push for a "farmer-oriented EU agricultural policy," while bearing in mind protests against EU climate measures, and address demographic challenges, he continued.
And then came the official tagline: "Make Europe Great Again," Boka said — a clear reference to Trump's famous "Make America Great Again" slogan, brandished on red baseball caps all over the US.
"It actually shows … the expectation that together, we should be stronger than individually, but that we should be allowed to remain who we are when we come together," Boka said in reference to Hungary's tagline.