European leaders are privately forming “war councils” to plan for victory in a potential third world war, Hungary’s prime minister Viktor Orbán has claimed, fuelling fears of a widening global conflict.
Speaking at an anti-war rally on Saturday, 17 January 2026, Orbán said the European Union was no longer focused on diplomacy but had shifted towards preparations for large-scale military confrontation, warning that the bloc was moving steadily towards direct conflict with Russia.
Orbán’s claims come at a time of unprecedented geopolitical friction. In the East, the grinding war in Ukraine shows no signs of abating, while in the West, US President Donald Trump has sent shockwaves through the NATO alliance with his renewed and aggressive push to annex Greenland.
It is against this backdrop of ‘global rattling’ that Orbán suggests Europe’s elite have already made their choice: they are preparing for a direct, cataclysmic confrontation with Russia.
The Secret Strategies: Inside Europe’s ‘War Councils’
The 62-year-old Prime Minister, often seen as a political outlier within the EU, painted a vivid picture of the atmosphere behind closed doors in Brussels. He described meetings of the 27 heads of state not as debates on policy, but as sessions of high-stakes military planning.
‘I am sitting there among them,’ Orbán told the crowd, ‘and I’m telling you quite firmly that they are going to go to war.’
According to Orbán, leaders from the continent’s powerhouses, notably France and Germany, are no longer discussing peace. Instead, they are allegedly obsessing over the mechanics of a total Russian defeat.
The discussions, he claims, revolve around forcing Moscow to pay reparations and clawing back the billions currently being funnelled into the Ukrainian war effort. ‘These are not children sitting there,’ he warned, suggesting that the financial and military allocations currently being made by elected leaders are the opening gambit of a broader, global conflict.
For Hungary, the goal remains one of defiant isolation. Orbán vowed that his administration would ‘keep the door shut’ with all its strength, refusing to send either soldiers or money to the front.
His logic is as much economic as it is pacifist: ‘If you have no money, you have no grand plan,’ he noted, arguing that the financial cost of being ‘dragged’ into the conflict would bankrupt the Hungarian future.
Political Theatre or Existential Threat? The 2026 Re-election Bid
While Orbán’s words have sparked genuine alarm among some, critics and independent observers are quick to point out the timing of these ‘World War 3’ claims. With Hungary’s parliamentary elections scheduled for 12 April 2026, many view this rhetoric as a masterclass in domestic fear-mongering.
Orbán faces perhaps his stiffest challenge in sixteen years from the ascendant TISZA party, led by Péter Magyar, and the ‘war or peace’ narrative provides a powerful, if polarising, campaign pillar.
EU officials have been swift to dismiss the ‘war council’ label as a total fabrication. They maintain that the sessions Orbán refers to are focused entirely on defensive security and humanitarian support, intended to prevent the very global war Orbán claims they are inciting.
They argue that by framing the EU as a warmongering entity, Orbán is merely echoing narratives favourable to Moscow to shore up his domestic base.
Yet, for the thousands standing in the cold in Miskolc, the message was clear. As the world watches the fallout of Trump’s Greenland ambitions and the continued escalation in Ukraine, the Hungarian leader has positioned himself as the sole bulwark against a continent he describes as ‘marching into the abyss’.
Whether a genuine warning or a cynical campaign ploy, the spectre of ‘war councils’ has undeniably heightened the sense of unease across a fractured Europe.
Originally published on IBTimes UK
