First EU Informal Summit Without Orbán: Hungary's 16-Year Veto Era Ends

For the first time in 16 years, Viktor Orbán was absent from an EU leaders' summit. At the informal European Council meeting in Ayia Napa, Cyprus on April 23–24, outgoing caretaker PM Orbán did not attend — a powerful symbol of Hungary's political earthquake. Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelenskyy attended in his place at the opening session, framing the new European dynamic. At the summit, Zelenskyy rejected any offer of merely 'symbolic' EU membership for Ukraine, demanding the opening of concrete accession clusters and a firm timeline toward full membership. EU leaders also adopted a fresh package of sanctions against Russia. Hungary's election outcome was widely credited with enabling the breakthrough session: Budapest's veto on €90 billion in Ukraine aid had already been lifted the previous day, and Orbán no longer commanded the leverage that had paralysed EU Ukraine policy for two years.