Zelenskyy vs. Orbán

Brussels Playbook Podcast

POLITICO

News, Politics, News Commentary

4.4 • 204 Ratings

🗓️ 12 March 2026

⏱️ 17 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy is urging Europe to find a way around Hungary. In an interview with POLITICO’s Gordon Repinski, Zelenskyy called on EU leaders to come up with a “Plan B” to secure Ukraine’s long-term funding — and to work around what he described as the “blackmail” of Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán, who is holding up a promised €90 billion EU loan (listen to full interview here). Host Zoya Sheftalovich and policy editor Sarah Wheaton break down the tensions inside the EU and what options Europe may have if Hungary continues to block support for Kyiv, as Orbán has repeatedly complicated EU decisions on Ukraine. Also on the podcast: The EU is moving toward banning AI “nudification” tools after a scandal involving Elon Musk’s Grok chatbot showed how easily AI can generate sexualized deepfakes of real people. Plus: Eurovision politics. Belgian artists and activists are planning an alternative music event during Eurovision week to protest Israel’s participation in the contest. If you have questions for us, or want to share what you think about the show, you can reach us on our WhatsApp at +32 491 05 06 29. **A message from Amazon: Across Europe, businesses are growing with the AWS Cloud to build innovative, scalable products. From Europe’s largest enterprises and government agencies to the continent’s fastest growing startups, learn more about how AWS Cloud is helping businesses across Europe grow at ⁠AWS.eu⁠.** Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Transcript

Click on a timestamp to play from that location

0:00.0	Today's episode is presented by Amazon. Across Europe, businesses are growing with the
0:05.9	AWS Cloud to build innovative, scalable products. From Europe's largest enterprises and government
0:11.8	agencies to the continent's fastest growing startups, learn more about how AWS Cloud is helping
0:17.7	businesses across Europe grow at aWS.
0:26.8	Good morning. It's Thursday, March 12, and this is the Brussels Playbook podcast.
0:38.4	The vibe in Brussels today is exasperated, as Ukrainian president Vladimir Zelensky calls on the EU to deliver on its promised 90 billion euro loan.
0:43.5	Also on the pod, the EU wants to ban AI notification apps, and Belgian artists are staging
0:49.6	an alternate Eurovision.
0:52.5	I'm Zoya Schozylobich, and with me today is one of our policy editors. Hey, Sarah Wheaton. Hey, Zoya, you know, you invite me to join you on this podcast, and then you don't even show up. I'm lonely here in the studio all by myself. Where are you? I'm very sorry. I am in Oslo in Norway today, Sarah. So thanks for coming in. It is cold.
1:11.5	It is snowy and I'm here for an annual conference called offshore Norge.
1:16.1	So that's my lot in life.
1:18.3	Sounds slick.
1:19.7	Slick and oily.
1:22.9	All right, Sarah.
1:23.9	Well, let's go to our first story today.
1:25.6	Our colleague Gordon Rapinski from Berlin was in Kiev yesterday,
1:30.6	and he sat down with President Zelensky himself, actually, for a really wide-ranging interview.
1:36.1	And we're going to play our listeners an excerpt of the section where he talks about Viktor Orban
1:40.9	and the impact that he has had on Ukraine and its abilities to fight this war
1:45.9	and defend itself against Russia. You're waiting for the 90 billion loan from the EU,
1:53.2	which is not released, particularly because there's a conflict within Europe, but also between
1:58.5	you and that person. I'm talking about Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban.
	...

Please login to see the full transcript.

Previous episode | Next episode

Disclaimer: The podcast and artwork embedded on this page are from POLITICO, and are the property of its owner and not affiliated with or endorsed by Tapesearch.

Generated transcripts are the property of POLITICO and are distributed freely under the Fair Use doctrine. Transcripts generated by Tapesearch are not guaranteed to be accurate.