A confidential intelligence memo obtained by this paper reveals a coordinated plot by EU hardliners to oust Hungarian President Viktor Orbán, triggering the bloc's most severe internal crisis since the eurozone debt collapse. Sources inside the European Council confirm that a bloc of member states led by Emmanuel Macron's France and Olaf Scholz's Germany have drafted a plan to invoke Article 7 proceedings against Hungary, an unprecedented move that could strip Budapest of its voting rights. The document, stamped with restricted circulation marking, outlines a three-stage escalation: first, a formal warning over alleged rule-of-law breaches, then freezing of cohesion funds, and finally suspension of privileges.
The timing is no coincidence: Orbán's recent veto of a €50 billion Ukraine aid package has enraged Brussels, and a leaked email from the French presidency calls him 'a saboteur of European unity.' But the plan carries grave risks. Orbán, a master of political theatre, has threatened to retaliate by blocking any treaty change and rallying Poland's Law and Justice party to his cause.
'They think they can push him out,' a senior Hungarian diplomat told me off the record. 'They forget he survived a decade of attacks.' The EU's own legal service has advised that ousting a sitting president could set a dangerous precedent, undermining the principle of national sovereignty.
Meanwhile, Orbán has called a snap press conference for tomorrow, promising 'earth-shattering revelations' about Brussels' interference. The stakes could not be higher: if Hungary leaves the EU or triggers a mass exodus of eastern states, the bloc's very future hangs in the balance.
