September 13, 2024 | 08.17
READING TIME: 2 minutes
The boycott of the Hungarian rotating presidency by many EU countries has succeededIn the prospectus distributed this morning in the press room of the Bàlna conference centre, on the banks of the Danube, where the Eurogroup and the informal Ecofin meet, the traditional September meeting for finance ministers and central bank governors, only eight ministers are listed, less than a third of the total.
The other 19 member states are represented at the level of undersecretaries or officials. The eight countries present at ministerial level are Austria, Cyprus, Czech Republic, Italy, Luxembourg, Malta, Slovakia and Slovenia. The boycott was decided because of the unilateral foreign policy initiatives taken by Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban at the beginning of his presidency of the EU Council.
In addition to the eight expected ministers, the host, Hungarian minister Mihaly Varga, who is not a member of the Eurogroup, is also present. With Varga, the count rises to 9 ministers: the Hungarian minister, however, has not confirmed the number of colleagues expected at today’s meetings, so the count is not yet final.
In addition to the boycott by most of the other member countries, there is a marked rigidity of the Hungarian organization. Those who requested press accreditation after the deadline, which is quite normal if the procedures are opened in the middle of August, were refused ‘late accreditation’, which is standard practice in informal meetings, especially those held after the summer break. It is generally in the interest of the presidency to have the widest possible media coverage of the events it organizes. And the presence of the press today in Budapest, given the absence of numerous ministers, is decidedly reduced.
Varga: “Eurogroup/Ecofin will be a success”
Varga, arriving at the Bálna conference center, said that “there are conditions for successful meetings,” despite the low turnout of EU finance ministers expected in the Hungarian capital today. Asked if he was disappointed by the low turnout of his colleagues, he replied: “I am not disappointed: each country makes its own decisions about the level of representation and is free to decide who is the right person” to represent it at the Eurogroup and the informal Ecofin. Varga did not confirm the number of ministers expected, nine out of 27 (including himself): “We will see,” he simply said, without answering further questions on the point.
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