Putin cannot set foot in Hungary unless it is to sign peace

Encouraged by the success of the Gaza peace agreement, Donald Trump He has set out to immediately achieve peace for Ukraine as well.

This Thursday, in a phone call with Vladimir Putinhas agreed to meet soon in Budapest with his counterpart in order to end the war.

Putin’s intention to establish himself in European territory can only be read as a challenge to the EU.

Because the autocrat has been sanctioned in his personal capacity by the Community Council since 2022 “for his responsibility in the unjustified military aggression against Ukraine”, having been banned from entering EU territory. And he is also subject to an arrest warrant issued by the International Criminal Court in 2023, as responsible for war crimes for the illegal deportation of thousands of children from Ukraine to Russia.

This humiliation is just the latest of the challenges that Putin has thrown at the EU in recent months, while showing a priori open to a negotiated solution to the Ukraine crisis: the GPS of the plane Von der Leyen suffered interference whose origin pointed to Russia; the Russian army launched an attack on kyiv about 50 meters from the EU Delegation in Ukraine; and Moscow has violated the airspace of European NATO member countries several times.

In some way, the situation has returned to the moments prior to the meeting in Alaska between Trump and Putin, where no progress was made for peace, but which did help Russia to be officially rehabilitated as an international actor, and for the US to accept a framework favorable to the interests of the Kremlin.

So the EU has found itself spending tens of billions on buying American weapons so that Trump continues with the same attitude: acquiescing to Putin’s preferences and managing the bilateral peace negotiations on his own.

It is true that Trump had been hardening his stance towards the Kremlin, going so far as to threaten Putin with sanctions. And that military assistance to Ukraine has recently increased, with the expectation of soon handing over Zelensky American Tomahawk missiles.

But, beneath this appearance of commitment, lies the same irreverence as always from Trump, which adds to the humiliation of the EU by colluding with the plagued man. Viktor Orban. And it also intends to score a diplomatic success, in order to expand its propaganda narrative about the “seven wars ended in seven months.”

Now the error that the EU has not spent all this time on strengthening its autonomous defensive capacity emerges in all its dimensions. instead of having perpetuated its dependence on the US.

If Europe has ended up finding itself in this trap of take it or leave it of Trump, is due to his inaction throughout these years. The EU is now paying for its irrelevance.

And, despite all the gestures of the coalition of the willingthe truth is that The EU has lost credibility about its ability to influence Ukraine to the detriment of the US, which deserves a truly historic peace agreement for Gaza.

Hence, from the outset, the EU cannot categorically oppose a meeting that could represent progress for peace.

Of course, we will have to monitor what kind of peace is achieved, given that the Ukrainian case is not comparable to that of the conflict between Israel and Palestine.

And for this reason the EU cannot resign itself to signing an armistice that does not take into account either Ukraine or the European countries.

Trump’s assertive unilateralism must be tempered with pressure from community partners that prevents him from bowing directly to the Kremlin’s demands, and that forces him to continue overpowering Putin so that the Russian arrives weakened at the meeting in Budapest.

Because the only thing that could minimally compensate the moral outrage of Putin entering the EU with impunity is that it would serve to reach a ceasefire

The EU has already shown itself to be insignificant in achieving peace in Gaza. It cannot be the same in Ukraine.