Viktor Orbán has undermined Europe for long enough. It’s time to call his bluff | Alexander Hurst

From Ukraine to the climate crisis, the union is beset by shocks. It can no longer afford to let Hungary give it the runaround

Deep into the Trump presidency, I jokingly asked a French friend who obsessively follows US politics (and political comedy shows), and who also has significant experience with China, if he would rather be in charge of the US, China or the EU. I expected him to pick the EU: the US seemed about to split wide open at the seams, and China seemed alone and friendless, with a debt crisis looming. Europe, on the other hand, was stable, prosperous, newly free of the British brake on continued integration, and otherwise merely overlooked.

That answer doesn't seem so obvious now, not just because Donald Trump is (for the moment) gone, but also because the EU can't seem to find a moment to breathe in the midst of never-ending polycrises.

Alexander Hurst is a Guardian Europe columnist