Hungary’s prime minister Viktor Orban has vowed not to support what looks to be the inevitable appointment of Jean-Claude Juncker as the next president of the European Union Commission. Whether or not his protest over a done deal is noticed across Europe isn’t certain, however, as attention has focused on the battle of wills that the UK’s PM David Cameron appears to have lost. Cameron is facing isolation in Europe because of his hard-line stance again the former Luxembourg prime minister. Most observers are predicting Juncker will prove to be an easily controlled president and while this may not bode well for the European Union’s long-term future, he does seem to be the politically expedient choice at the moment. Orban seemed to ally himself with Cameron, whose resistance to Juncker could spark an unprecedented vote on the president, who is usually chosen through consensus of the elected leaders of the council.
