That may be true, but they made the decision.
They collectively decided that being under the thumb of the EU and getting the economic “benefits” from such an arrangement was preferable than being independent.
It’s interesting, though, that Hungary and Poland have defied the EU on many occasions and they haven’t been kicked out of the club. They’ve shown that you don’t necessarily need to knuckle under.
And the reason is that the EU is very loathe to lose more members, so they’re walking a fine line.
No decision is made independently of the EU. That is the nature of that entity.
Poland and Hungary are strategically important to the EU in terms of its ambition. And their interests are not too divergent as far as the bigger picture goes.