Distrust in EU growing: Hungary is being excluded from sensitive discussions due to risk of leaks

European Union countries are increasingly holding closed discussions without Hungary's participation due to fears that confidential information could get to russia. This is reported by Politico.

According to sources, instead of full-scale meetings with all the bloc's states, European partners are moving to narrow formats - small groups of countries. This allows sensitive issues to be discussed without the risk of data leaks.

"In general, not very loyal member states are the main reason why most of the important European diplomacy is now taking place in various, smaller formats," one of the officials noted.

These are formats such as the Weimar Alliance (France, Germany and Poland), the NB8 (Nordic European and Baltic countries) or the JEF - a defense association of ten states.

Amid new suspicions that Budapest is passing information to Moscow, the European Union is also considering the possibility of classifying documents more often. According to diplomats, this could become an additional barrier to leaks and simplify investigations.

The future of the Bucharest Nine is also being discussed separately - NATO's eastern flank countries may even exclude Hungary from this format due to disagreements over support for Ukraine.

Despite the seriousness of the situation, no official reaction from the European Union is expected yet - partly because of the approaching elections in Hungary. Further steps will depend on whether Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán remains in power.

"This undermines trust, cooperation and the integrity of the European Union. This is a sad situation," one diplomat commented.

As a reminder, Slovak Prime Minister Robert Fico stood up for Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán, who is blocking a reparations loan for Ukraine in the amount of EUR 90 billion approved by the European Union.