The self-proclaimed “peace mission” of Hungary’s Prime Minister Viktor Orbán has massively angered the EU partners. Now EU commissioners and German politicians are reacting in their own way.
In response to the controversial trip to Moscow by Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán, the EU Commission has announced a boycott of the informal meetings under the Hungarian Council Presidency. In view of “the latest developments”, Commission President Ursula von der Leyen has decided that the Commissioners will not travel to the meetings in Hungary, her spokesman Eric Mamer said on Monday. Hungarian politicians criticized the decision.
The EU Commission will only be represented at the high level of officials at the informal meetings planned in Hungary by the end of the year, explained Mamer. The meeting of the Commission College in Hungary, which had already been postponed once for scheduling reasons and was now scheduled for September, will also not take place, he explained.
Anger over Viktor Orbán’s “peace mission”
A meeting of EU foreign ministers planned for August in Budapest could also possibly be boycotted. EU foreign policy chief Josep Borrell could dissuade ministers from traveling to Hungary by convening another meeting in Brussels at the same time, several diplomats in Brussels said.
Right at the start of the Hungarian Council Presidency on July 1, Orbán had massively angered the EU partners with a self-proclaimed “peace mission” in the Ukraine war. In addition to Russian President Vladimir Putin and former US President Donald Trump, Orbán also visited Chinese President Xi Jinping.
Hungary’s Minister for European Affairs, Janos Boka, criticized the boycott. The Commission cannot choose which EU member states it wants to work with, he explained in the online service X. “Will all of the Commission’s decisions from now on be politically motivated?” he asked.
MEP Kinga Gal from Orbán’s ruling party Fidesz accused von der Leyen of using the issue to secure votes for a second term. “This is unacceptable and contradicts the essence of European cooperation,” she criticized.
German ministers also consider boycott
German ministers had also previously considered a boycott of trips to Hungary. Federal Agriculture Minister Cem Özdemir (Greens) said in Brussels on Monday that he was “looking very carefully” at whether he would travel to Hungary for an EU meeting, and made his participation in an informal EU agriculture ministers’ meeting from 8 to 10 September dependent on “how Hungary’s future Council Presidency goes”. In his words, Orbán’s “strange travel destinations” have raised “doubts” among his partners.
Federal Finance Minister Christian Lindner (FDP) also considered canceling the visit. Lindner said on the sidelines of an EU finance ministers’ meeting in Brussels that he might not travel to Hungary, where an informal finance ministers’ council is scheduled for September 13 and 14. This falls “exactly in the budget week” in Berlin, in which he will speak in the Bundestag, Lindner stressed.
Source: Stern
I have been working in the news industry for over 6 years, first as a reporter and now as an editor. I have covered politics extensively, and my work has appeared in major newspapers and online news outlets around the world. In addition to my writing, I also contribute regularly to 24 Hours World.
