Hungary | HS information: Finland and Sweden plan to boycott ministerial meetings hosted by Hungary due to Orbán’s trip to Moscow

Brussels

Finland and Sweden plan to boycott the EU ministerial meetings held in Hungary in protest of the Hungarian Prime Minister’s Viktor Orbán for a visit to Moscow. According to HS data, prime ministers Petteri Orpo (cook) and Ulf Kristersson agreed on the matter on Wednesday.

The boycott means that the countries will not send ministers or state secretaries to the EU ministerial meetings held in Hungary. Officials represent the countries at the meetings. Initially, the boycott will last until July, after which the continuation will be evaluated based on Hungary’s actions.

The boycott therefore applies to four meetings that Hungary, which holds the EU presidency, will still organize this month. A meeting of environment ministers is currently underway. Next week, the ministers of energy will meet in Hungary, and the following week the ministers of justice and the ministers responsible for employment and social affairs.

Boycott is the result of Orbán’s self-proclaimed “peace mission”.

Hungary took over the rotating EU presidency at the beginning of July, and already on Friday of the same week, Orbán unexpectedly flew to Moscow to meet the president Vladimir Putin. Three days later, on Monday of this week, Orbán met the Chinese president Xi Jinping in Beijing.

This angered other EU countries, who fear that Orbán, who opposes support for Ukraine, will try to negotiate as a representative of the union. Leaders of other member states went public to remind that Orbán does not have an EU mandate.

Discussions on countermeasures started right over the weekend. Finland and Sweden are by no means alone in their intention to boycott, but discussions have also taken place among a larger number of countries.

Orbán’s the trip was discussed on Wednesday among the ambassadors of the EU countries, which was described as harsh. There, 25 countries condemned Hungary’s actions, only Slovakia’s representative remained silent.

According to one source, other EU countries consider that Orbán’s actions undermined the EU’s influence in the world and weakened its unity. As the country holding the presidency, Hungary has a special responsibility to nurture unity, the countries see.

However, no decisions were made on joint countermeasures on Wednesday. Public threats have also been made that other countries could decide to suspend Hungary’s presidency, but this option was not even discussed.

According to HS’s information, some countries asked the EU’s foreign affairs administration and the Council’s legal service to investigate possible countermeasures.

Hungarian EU minister Janos Boka commented on Wednesday about the possible boycott intentions of other countries, saying that each country decides on its own representation in the councils of ministers and that the most important thing for Hungary is that the council is functional.

“From the point of view of our presidency, I don’t see any problem with this,” he said.

At that time, no country had told Hungary about the boycott decision, Boka said.

A man was watching a large TV screen in Beijing, which was showing news footage of the meeting between Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán and Chinese President Xi Jinping on Monday. Picture: Pedro Pardo / Magazine photo