Denmark is calling for increased pressure on Hungary for violating the fundamental principles of the European Union. Minister for European Affairs Marie Bjerre said that Copenhagen will seek to activate the procedure under Article 7 of the EU Treaty — also known as the "nuclear option" because it allows for limiting the rights of a member state, including depriving it of its vote in the EU Council.
Bjerre said this at a briefing in Aarhus, where the European Commission is currently based, Politico reports. The meeting took place as part of the start of Denmarkʼs presidency of the Council of the EU.
"We still see violations of fundamental values. That is why we will continue the Article 7 procedure and the hearings on Hungary," the minister noted.
Article 7 allows EU countries to punish a state that systematically violates EU rules. Although Brussels has repeatedly accused Hungary of violating the law, this procedure has not yet been completed. If it is activated, Hungary may lose its right to vote on some issues, including EU enlargement. This would deprive Budapest of the opportunity to block Ukraineʼs accession to the EU.
Bjerre also stressed that the EU should consider restricting access to European funds for countries that violate Union law. Separately, the minister criticized Hungary for blocking Ukraineʼs accession. She stated that Denmark is ready to consider any political and practical options to move the process forward.
The European Union does not rule out that the European Commission may begin membership negotiations with Moldova in the coming days — opening the first so-called cluster. Before that, Ukraine and Moldova were moving towards membership synchronously, so the possible separation of applications could cause controversy.
However, Denmark does not support this option. According to Marie Bierre, the goal is to simultaneously open the first cluster with both Moldova and Ukraine.
- Hungary has been blocking Kyiv’s efforts to join the EU. For example, in April 2025, the government of Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán urged Hungarians to vote against Ukraine’s EU membership in a national poll. The results of that vote were released on June 26, with Hungarian authorities claiming that 95% of Hungarians were against Ukraine’s EU membership.
- Earlier, opposition Hungarian politician Peter Magyar criticized the “national consultations” organized by Prime Minister Viktor Orbán’s team and called them a failure. Magyar said that at most 600 000 Hungarians took part in the survey, the lowest figure in the history of national consultations. And “tens of billions of forints” were spent on it.
- The Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Ukraine reacted to the Hungarian national consultations on Ukraineʼs accession to the EU and stated that "the real goal of this anti-Ukrainian hysteria is to shift the attention of Hungarian society from the failures of the governmentʼs socio-economic policy to an imaginary external enemy".
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