BUDAPEST, Hungary (AP) — European Union officials will boycott informal meetings hosted by Hungary during its rotating presidency of the EU. Hungary’s pro-Russia prime minister has announced he will boycott informal meetings hosted by Hungary during its EU presidency. Viktor Orbán He angered European partners by holding a series of lawless meetings with foreign leaders over Ukraine.
The highly unusual decision by the European Commission president and other senior European Commission officials to boycott the meeting in Budapest was made “in light of recent events marking the start of the Hungarian (EU) presidency,” commission spokesman Eric Mamer wrote in a post on X on Monday.
Hungary took over the rotating role for six months from July 1, and since then Prime Minister Orban has visited Ukraine, Russia, Azerbaijan, China and the United States on a global tour he has described as a “peace mission” aimed at brokering an end to Russia’s war in Ukraine.
This infuriated many EU leaders, who said they had not been informed of Orban’s plans in advance and stressed that the nationalist leader was not acting on behalf of the EU in the surprise meeting. Vladimir Putin And Xi Jinping.
Hungary’s European Minister János Boka slammed the commission’s decision, writing in the X newspaper on Monday that “the commission cannot arbitrarily pick and choose the institutions and member states with which it wants to cooperate.”
“Are all the Commission’s decisions now based on political considerations?” Boca wrote.
Hungarian government spokesman Zoltan Kovács also suggested the decision was the product of political bias, writing to X that it was “sacrificing the institutional regime for private political ends and ignoring the role of (the committee) for ideological and political motives.”
The Commission’s decision will apply to informal meetings hosted by Hungary, which will currently be attended by senior civil servants rather than officials such as the European Commission president. Ursula von der Leyen.
Orban’s government has defied the European mainstream by refusing to supply Kiev with weapons to thwart a Russian invasion and threatening to block financial aid to the war-torn country.
In an interview with Hungarian newspaper Magyar Nemzet on Monday, Orbán’s political director said that after his visit to Moscow – the first by an EU head of state or government in more than two years – the prime minister had briefed other EU leaders “in writing about the negotiations, the experience of the first phase of the peace mission and Hungary’s proposals.”
“If Europe wants peace and wants to have a decisive voice in resolving wars and ending bloodshed, it must now decide and act to change course,” said Orban Baras, who is no relation to the prime minister.
But von der Leyen accused Orbán of trying to appease the Russian leader with his visit, writing to X: “Appeasement will not stop Putin. Only unity and determination will pave the way to a comprehensive, just and lasting peace in Ukraine.”
The Hungarian government has long called for an immediate ceasefire and peace negotiations in the Ukrainian conflict, but has not said what such a move would mean for the country’s territorial integrity and future security. Even after the full-scale invasion in February 2022, Hungary has maintained a hostile stance toward Ukraine while maintaining close ties with Moscow.
Orban’s critics accuse him of acting against the unity and interests of the EU and NATO, of which Hungary is a member, and of pursuing a strategy of appeasement regarding Russian aggression.
