Monday, July 22, 2024, 8:06 PM
The European reprimand to Hungary and Viktor Orbán’s “peace mission” is no longer just words. The head of European diplomacy, Josep Borrell, announced on Monday that the meeting of foreign and defence ministers that was to be held in Budapest after the summer will finally take place in Brussels, in response to the Hungarian prime minister’s trips to Moscow, Beijing and the US. “Today, member states have overwhelmingly criticised Hungary’s lack of sincere and loyal cooperation,” he said on social media.
As the country holding the rotating presidency of the European Council, Hungary was due to host informal meetings of EU ministers and leaders over the next six months. However, Orbán’s erratic behaviour with his meetings with Russian President Vladimir Putin, Chinese leader Xi Jinping and former US President Donald Trump prompted the European Commission to announce that it will not send the college of commissioners to Budapest on their traditional trip to mark the start of the presidency.
The newly re-elected President of the European Commission, Ursula von der Leyen, has assured that the commissioners will not travel to the country for ministerial meetings either, due to the Hungarian leader’s trips. Borrell’s decision on Monday responds to the criticism of the Member States of Orbán’s “peace mission”. “The speech that the Hungarian Foreign Minister gave at the United Nations, in which he claimed that the EU is supporting the war, is also unacceptable,” Borrell added.
The Spanish Foreign Minister, José Manuel Albares, assured that this change of venue for the informal Foreign Affairs Council “has not been raised in terms of a boycott.” “Spain does not support boycotts within the EU, but we clearly reject Orbán’s trips, especially the one he made to Moscow,” he stressed. The minister stressed that the presidency of the EU Council has “an important role” as spokesperson and generator of consensus among the Twenty-Seven. In the case of Spain, Albares has indicated that they are analyzing the agenda of each of the meetings to see if Spain’s interests are represented, with a view to sending representation to the informal meetings in Budapest.
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