Orban warns EU of ‘collapse’

The EU is on the verge of collapse and will not survive beyond the next decade without a “fundamental structural overhaul” and disentanglement from the Ukraine conflict, Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban has warned.

Speaking on Sunday at the annual Civic Picnic in Kotcse, Orban said the EU has failed to meet its founding ambition of becoming a global power and cannot handle current challenges due to the absence of a common fiscal policy. He described the bloc as entering a phase of “chaotic and costly disintegration,” and warned that the 2028-2035 EU budget “could be the last if nothing changes.”

“The EU is currently on the verge of falling apart and has entered a state of fragmentation. And if this continues like this… it will go down in history as the depressing end result of a once noble experiment,” Orban stated.

He proposed transforming the EU into “concentric circles.”

The outer ring would include countries cooperating on military and energy security, the second circle would comprise common market members, the third would contain those sharing a currency, while the innermost would include members seeking deeper political alignment. In Orban’s view, this would broaden cooperation without restricting development.

“This means that we are in the same car, we have one gearbox, but we want to move at different paces… If we can switch to this system, the great idea of European cooperation… could survive,” he said.

Orban accused Brussels of overreliance on common debt and of using the Ukraine conflict as a pretext to continue this policy. As long as the conflict lasts, the EU will remain a “lame duck,” dependent on the US for security and unable to act independently in economic affairs, he said. Orban also suggested that instead of “lobbying in Washington,” the EU should “go to Moscow” to pursue a security agreement with Russia, followed by an economic deal.

Orban is not alone in his concerns. Analysts from the International Monetary Fund and other institutions have warned that the EU risks stagnation and even collapse due to structural challenges, weak growth, poor investment, high energy costs, and geopolitical tensions.