BRUSSELS — Trump’s Ukraine power play has brought Europeans together in defence of President Volodymyr Zelenskyy and their own security, but Hungary could cloud the newfound sense of awakening.

US President Donald Trump’s speech in Congress on Tuesday suggested Washington and Kyiv may be ready to mend their bruised relations.

Either way, EU leaders, gathering for an extraordinary summit on Thursday, are expected to show they remain united behind Kyiv as their scepticism over the American president deepens.

Europe’s threat perception is moving away from a Ukraine-only focus to a ‘What do we do without America?’ posture.

Even with the world as we know it ending, EU diplomats expect to run into the same old European bugaboo on Thursday: Viktor Orbán.

Maintaining unity

Over the course of last week, EU ambassadors have become bolder and gradually but significantly toughened up the language of the draft EU summit conclusions on stronger military and financial aid to Ukraine, use of frozen Russian assets, and clearer reference to Kyiv’s EU accession process.

There is stronger wording on EU sanctions against Russia, with EU leaders expected to call for “stepping up pressure on Russia, including through further sanctions and by strengthening the enforcement of existing measures”.

EU top diplomat Kaja Kallas’ initiative for further military support, dropped off the draft last week after primarily Hungary blocked the idea, was added back in.

Hungary’s reaction will depend on what strings are attached to the defence proposals and whether they include mandatory spending on Ukraine, which it opposes.

Budapest is expected to reject a stronger version of the summit text, with the potential risk of shooting down joint EU27 conclusions.

Several EU diplomats say the intention to send a strong message on Ukraine could take precedence over accommodating Budapest – even if this means finding a way around Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán’s demands.

Worst case, European Council President António Costa could issue a so-called chair statement that would be backed by all but the dissenting countries.

“It is not going to be a pleasant scenario […] in the long run it’s not sending the right message”, one EU diplomat representing a Southern EU country said.

French President Emmanuel Macron invited Orbán for talks in Paris on the eve of the summit on Wednesday, but diplomats say they see it as unlikely that he will get Budapest to remove its opposition.

Slovakia, the same diplomats believe, might be a wildcard as it remains unclear whether it will join Hungary’s veto or – like they did in the UN vote on Ukraine a week ago – will stick with the majority.

Slovak Prime Minister Robert Fico has said Bratislava would not provide any more financial or military support to Ukraine and called for an immediate ceasefire.

Transatlantic mood: ‘I can fix him’

A lesson for Europe from Friday’s Oval Office confrontation with Zelenskyy has been that one needs to feed Trump’s ego to get what you want or risk public humiliation.

Both UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer and NATO Secretary-General Mark Rutte have understood that, beseeching Zelenskyy to make up with Trump. Neither of them will attend Thursday’s summit.

Italy’s Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni, a staunch supporter of Ukraine, has floated the idea of an emergency meeting between the US and Europe.

The purpose would be for both sides “to talk frankly about how we intend to tackle today’s major challenges, starting with Ukraine, which together we have defended in recent years.”

The idea is gaining traction, with Poland’s Prime Minister Donald Tusk, chairing the EU’s rotating presidency, and European Council President António Costa supporting the idea.

Rearming Europe

While Europeans acknowledge there is a need to build a bridge to Washington, they also need an insurance policy.

European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen on Tuesday presented a five-point ‘REARM Europe’ plan for boosting defence spending only hours after Trump reportedly froze military aid to Ukraine.

It’s thanks to Trump that Europe has become serious about defence. Even strongly transatlantic EU countries such as the Baltics, Poland and Germany have decided that Europe needs to do more for its own security.

“Europe will truly turn a page [at this summit], there is a clear willingness for Europe to take the actions that need to be taken to be more sovereign and more autonomous,” a senior EU official told reporters.

But while Europe managed to rally around the flag and speed up some ideas on how to ramp up their defence capacities, the hard part will be whether it can deliver on them and how fast.

Germany’s monumental shift to increase defence and infrastructure investment could significantly help to speed up the EU’s security decisions by showing Europe’s largest country is finally willing to spend more after years of fiscal frugality.

“What the likely future [German] coalition has announced is a clear indication that we have turned the page of defence investment in Europe,” the same EU official said.

The European Commission is planning on putting forward legislative text proposals by the EU leaders’ summit later in March.

“The burden should be shared more evenly often those that don’t do their fair share on Ukraine are in the same group that don’t spend 2% on defence and have fiscal problems,” one EU diplomat said.

**Magnus Lund-Nielsen, Thomas Moller-Nielsen and Nicoletta Ionta contributed to the reporting.

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