BUDAPEST: Donald Trump’s biggest European fan, Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán, predicted on Friday that a new US administration under Trump will cease providing support to Ukraine in its fight against Russia’s full-scale invasion.
Orbán’s comments were a signal that Trump’s recent election could drive a wedge among European Union leaders on the question of the war.
Hungary’s leader hosted the second of two days of summits on Friday in the capital, Budapest, just days after Trump’s election victory. The war in Ukraine was high on the agenda for the gathering of the EU’s 27 leaders, most of whom believe continuing to supply Kyiv with weapons and financial assistance are key elements for the continent’s security.
The nationalist Hungarian leader has long sought to undermine EU support for Ukraine, and routinely blocked, delayed or watered down the bloc’s efforts to provide weapons and funding and to sanction Moscow for its invasion. He has sought to use the summits to make his case to other leaders that they should rethink their commitments to the war-ravaged country.
In comments to state radio before Friday’s summit, Orbán, who is considered close to both Trump and Russian President Vladimir Putin, reiterated his long-held position that an immediate ceasefire should be declared, and suggested that Ukraine has already lost its fight.
“The situation on the front is obvious, there’s been a military defeat. The Americans are going to pull out of this war,” Orbán said.
The Hungarian leader has cast himself as the exemplar of some in the EU who are skeptical of providing indefinite support to Ukraine, especially in light of uncertainty over whether US assistance could evaporate under Trump.
He said Friday that Trump’s reelection had created a “new situation” for Europe, and that the continent “cannot finance this war alone.”
But numerous EU leaders made a point to downplay the risk of a shift in US policies drifting across the Atlantic into European capitals. Arriving at the summit, the EU’s top diplomat, Josep Borrell, said a new US administration wouldn’t lead Europe to change course.
“We cannot outsource our capacity of action. Whatever happens in the US, we have our interests, we have our values,” Borrell said.
Italy’s hard-right leader, Premier Giorgia Meloni, who is aligned with Orbán on many issues but breaks with him sharply on Russia’s war, said: “As long is there is a war, Italy is on the side of Ukraine.”
Western support is crucial for Kyiv to sustain the costly war of attrition, but Trump’s repeated statements criticizing US aid, and his claims that he could bring the conflict to a rapid end, have led to uncertainty over how long the help will continue.
At a gathering on Thursday of European leaders in Budapest, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky objected to Trump’s claim that Russia’s war with Ukraine could be ended in a day, something he and his European backers fear would mean peace on terms favorable to Putin and involving the surrender of territory.
“If it is going to be very fast, it will be a loss for Ukraine,” Zelensky said.
Despite Orbán’s attempts to throttle aid packages, EU leaders have largely found workaround solutions to any obstruction to providing Zelensky with assistance, and have been able to signal their commitment to supporting Ukraine in its fight, regardless of who occupies the White House.
Closing out the summit on Friday, European Commission President Ursula Von der Leyen said the EU would “discuss with our American friends also the fact that Russia is not only a threat to Europe, but a threat to the global security as a whole” in an effort to dissuade a new Trump administration from abandoning aid to Ukraine.
“We see that technology from China and Iran is used by Russia on the battlefield,” she continued. “It shows that the security of the Indo-Pacific and Europe are interconnected, and so are the European and the United States interests in this course.”
Hungary PM Orban says Europe cannot finance Ukraine war alone
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Hungary PM Orban says Europe cannot finance Ukraine war alone
- Viktor Orban: ‘The Americans will quit this war, first of all they will not encourage the war’
Philippines discovers new gas deposit to boost depleted reserves
- Source near Malampaya field believed to contain 2.8 billion cubic meters of gas
- It will not take much time to access the gas, expert says, as infrastructure is ready
MANILA: The Philippines on Monday announced a new natural gas discovery, with the reservoir near the country’s largest offshore site estimated to be enough to power about 5.7 million households per year.
About 2.8 billion cubic meters (98 billion cubic feet) of gas were found 5km east of the Malampaya field near the island of Palawan, President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. said in a Facebook video.
“This is equivalent to nearly 14 billion kilowatt-hours of electricity per year. That means it could supply power to more than 5.7 million households, 9,500 buildings, or nearly 200,000 schools,” Marcos said.
“This helps Malampaya’s contribution and strengthens our domestic gas supply for many years to come. Initial testing showed that the well flowed at 60 million cubic feet (1.7 million cubic meters) per day.”
Malampaya, discovered in 1989 and operational since 2001, is the Philippines’ most important natural gas field, located off the west coast of Palawan Island. It is also a key part of the country’s energy infrastructure.
It supplies natural gas for electricity generation in Luzon, the main island of the Philippines, powering several major plants.
Prime Energy Resources Development, which manages the Malampaya project, said in a statement that the new reservoir, Malampaya East-1, was discovered by a “a fully Filipino-led team, reflecting the country’s growing capability in upstream energy development.”
Prime Energy’s well data indicate that Malampaya East-1 volumes are equivalent to about one-third of the remaining producible gas volumes at the original Malampaya.
Against the backdrop of Malampaya’s decline, it will help to secure the country’s gas supplies. It will also keep operational the expensive infrastructure that was installed to operate the legacy field.
“The original Malampaya was like 2.3 trillion cubic feet, so it’s like 4 percent of the original find. I still think that is significant in light of the decline of the Malampaya gas field,” said Alberto Dalusung III, energy transition adviser at the Institute for Climate and Sustainable Cities.
The new gas discovery benefits from ready access to processing facilities such as the 504 km undersea pipeline that was built for Malampaya, which will make it available sooner.
Dalusung estimated it would take up to two years for Filipino consumers to benefit from the new resources.
“The infrastructure is already there,” he said. “You don’t have to build the pipeline. All you have to do is find new gas resources, which we did.”
