The European Union (“EU”) is facing a decline in influence on the world stage and the erasure of European civilisation. Contributing to this calamity are years of poor policy choices, continued involvement in the war in Ukraine, mass migration and corruption scandals.
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Year in Review – The EU Is Facing the ‘Prospect of Civilisational Erasure’
By Lili Zemplényi, as published by the Hungarian Conservative on 29 December 2025
With the end of 2025 approaching, it is worth reviewing the year behind us. Undoubtedly, the European Union and its achievements (or lack thereof) have a significant impact and help define Hungary’s standing in the world. While a successful and prosperous EU is in the best interest of Budapest, unfortunately, nothing illustrates what Europe has become in 2025 better than the National Security Strategy of the United States of America, which spoke of the “prospect of [Europe’s] civilisational erasure.” The EU’s decline on the world stage – and even the threat to its very existence – did not come out of the blue; it is the result of years of poor policy choices on strategic issues.
War
The war in Ukraine is unlikely to be concluded in 2025. Despite the considerable effort the American administration put into stopping the war that dramatically weakened the EU’s economy, Brussels continues to undermine every peace effort. According to the American security strategy, “The Ukraine War has had the perverse effect of increasing Europe’s, especially Germany’s, external dependencies. Today, German chemical companies are building some of the world’s largest processing plants in China, using Russian gas that they cannot obtain at home.”
While the United States recognises the financial damage the war has caused to Europe, the EU continues to push for new sanctions packages against Russia and plans to phase out Russian energy – both gas and oil – over the coming years. The costly military and economic hostility towards Russia seriously undermine the bloc’s competitiveness and, consequently, its economic strength on the world stage.
Despite what it presents as reconciliation efforts by the American administration, the EU continues to fund the war. Since the beginning of Russia’s aggression against Ukraine in 2022, the European Union has spent around €200 billion on supporting Kyiv. In addition to financial assistance, EU Member States have also provided extensive military support: more than one million artillery rounds, fighter jets, and Leopard tanks have been delivered, while over 81,000 Ukrainian servicemen have been trained.
The war in Ukraine is not – or should not be – Europe’s war, yet Brussels continues to finance it endlessly. The European Commission plans to provide Ukraine with an additional €210 billion in 2026–27 and to allocate around 20 per cent of the next seven-year EU budget (the 2028–34 MFF) to Kyiv. Needless to say, these expenditures divert substantial resources away from the European economy and welfare systems, further weakening the EU’s global position.
Migration
The European Union has struggled to cope with mass migration since 2015. After years of disagreement, it has introduced a so-called “solidarity pool,” scheduled to come into effect in mid-2026. Member States deemed by the European Commission not to be under “migratory pressure” will be required either to accept up to 21,000 migrants or to pay €20,000 for each migrant they refuse to host.
As critics of the policy in Hungary have argued, this decision effectively penalises countries that successfully defended their borders and prevented large-scale irregular migration.
Albeit the EU’s Migration and Asylum Pact was hailed by the European People’s Party for putting an emphasis on deportations, arguably the Pact still misses the point: it’s easier and more efficient not to let in illegals than to deport them. Instead of trying to deal with the symptoms, the root causes need to be addressed – rather than letting migrants in and assessing their asylum applications on the territory of Europe, their entry into the bloc should not be allowed without possessing the required documents.
Pouring Scorn on Values
Beyond its shortcomings on strategic issues, the European Union has also failed to uphold its own values. The year 2025 began with two unresolved corruption cases: the Qatargate cash-for-influence scandal that shook the European Parliament in 2020, and Ursula von der Leyen’s Pfizer SMS affair. A year on, the European public still has no clearer understanding of how the EU purchased 1.8 billion vaccine doses, or whether corruption played a role.
[Related: Corruption at the European Commission: Ursula von der Leyen, Pfizer and McKinsey]
Moreover, the list of unresolved corruption scandals has grown significantly over the course of the year. In March, requests were submitted to waive the immunity of several MEPs on suspicion that they had accepted valuable gifts from Huawei, allegedly influencing decisions in the company’s favour. While many questions surrounding this lobbying scandal remain unanswered in late 2025, former Commission Vice-President and High Representative Federica Mogherini was briefly detained – and is now reportedly treated as a suspect – in a separate corruption case involving the College of Europe and the European External Action Service. According to the allegations, the College received EU funds fraudulently for a diplomatic training programme.
While the EU is drowning in corruption, thousands of Hungarian students still lack access to Erasmus funds. The EU suspended these funds over a year ago, allegedly to protect them from misuse in Budapest. However, no Hungarian university has ever been proven to misuse EU funds – a situation that may soon change regarding the College of Europe, which continues to receive EU funding. This highlights that the EU is willing to undermine even fundamental rights, such as access to education, to put political pressure on Hungary. These double standards poured scorn on EU values throughout 2025.
Related articles:
- Trump’s New National Security Strategy Is a Nightmare for EU Mainstream, Hungarian Conservative, 5 December 2025
- The Future Is Emerging from Washington and Budapest – So What Now? Hungarian Conservative, 12 December 2025
About the Author
Lili Zemplényi is a graduate of University College London (UCL). Currently, she is completing her MA at the Higher School of Economics. Previously, she worked as an intern at the Hungarian Academy of Sciences, Institute for Political Science.
Featured image adapted from ‘What If the European Union Collapses? Analysing the Triggers, Scenarios, and Global Impacts of an EU Disintegration’, The AI Operator, 10 December 2024
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