Breaking the Orbán deadlock

Brussels Playbook Podcast

POLITICO

News, Politics, News Commentary

4.4 • 204 Ratings

🗓️ 18 March 2026

⏱️ 14 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

Europe is working hard to end the standoff with Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán over the €90 billion loan promised to Ukraine. Host Zoya Sheftalovich and Ian Wishart, senior EU politics editor, discuss how likely it is for the deadlock to be resolved before tomorrow’s meeting of EU leaders now that Kyiv has agreed to work with the bloc to repair the Druzhba pipeline. Orbán has held off on greenlighting any funding until Ukraine fixes this pipeline that carries Russian oil into Hungary. Also on the pod, Brussels is trying to do something about its startup problem. The European Commission will unveil the so-called “28th regime” which attempts to make it easier to start and scale new companies across borders. We explain why this plan is actually a test of something much bigger — and more political. Finally, a new exhibition in the European Parliament traces the continent’s history through the eyes of a notary … because what’s more “EU” than official documents? Questions? Comments? Send them to our WhatsApp: +32 491 05 06 29. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Transcript

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0:00.0	All right, we've got Simon on the line. Simon, young people, they're just all a bit, a bit lazy, aren't they?
0:09.0	What are you fucking lame?
0:10.0	Welcome to McDonald's.
0:11.0	Have you get the six minutes, please?
0:12.0	Some say young people are work shy, but at McDonald's, we hired 47,000 of them last year.
0:19.0	How's your night?
0:20.0	Like George here.
0:23.1	Who keeps things running during a Friday rush?
0:25.7	Resilience.
0:28.2	Making it happen at McDonald's.
0:31.2	Good morning.
0:35.5	It's Wednesday, March 18, and this is the Brussels Playbook podcast.
0:46.0	The vibe in Brussels today is conciliatory and resigned,
0:48.9	as the EU begrudgingly offers Victor Orban an off-ramp ahead of a crunch EU leader summit tomorrow.
0:52.7	Also on the pod, Brussels takes a stab at fixing its startup problem and tests some more
0:57.9	flexible EU in the process.
0:59.6	And there's an exhibition in the European Parliament that tells the EU's history through
1:03.9	the eyes of a notary.
1:05.2	That sounds fascinating, Zoya.
1:06.9	You can't keep me away, Ian.
1:09.6	I'm Zoro Shafdlovich, and with me today is senior EU politics editor Ian Wishart, who's back from the slopes. Back from skiing, yeah, with a broken knee. Broken? My God, you've upgraded this injury as the days have worn on. It's slightly hurting. Oh, well. I'm back in Brussels, full of energy and ready to go again after not listening to the news for a week.
1:28.6	Well, I'm glad you're hosting an EU politics show. Yeah, you have to do all the talking today for a change. Well, it's going to be very difficult for me. Let's get to it. Lead story today, Ian, it's tied directly to that summit that's happening tomorrow. the EU has made a bit of a move to try to get
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