Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban arrives in Brussels, Belgium, on December 14, 2023 to attend the EU Leaders' Meeting.
Zhao Dingzhe | Xinhua News Agency | Getty Images
Hungary has been denied the right to host an upcoming meeting of EU ministers due to its stance on the war in Ukraine.
The next meeting of EU foreign and defense ministers will be held in Brussels, not Hungary, as Budapest currently holds the six-month rotating presidency, EU foreign policy chief Josep Borrell said on Monday. .
“We have to send a signal, even if it's a symbolic signal, that violating the EU's foreign policy… has to have some consequences,” Borrell told reporters in Brussels on Monday.
Borrell said he decided to hold the next meeting in Brussels after nearly all EU foreign ministers' meetings on Monday criticized Hungary's stance on Kiev, Russia and the war in Ukraine.
Tensions between the EU and Budapest increased after Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban launched a self-proclaimed “peace mission” to Ukraine, Russia and China in early July without EU support. Orban, seen as an ally of Russian President Vladimir Putin, has since described EU policy on Ukraine as “support for war”, sparking anger in Brussels.
Some EU foreign ministers have expressed reluctance to travel to Budapest for the next meeting of foreign and defense ministers scheduled for late August, the EU's top diplomat Borrell said on Monday.
“All member states – with one exception – are very critical of this behavior by Hungary,” Borrell said, adding that he believed it “is important to express this feeling and call for the next meeting of the Foreign Affairs and Defense Council in Brussels” is appropriate”.
Still, he told reporters that the move was not a “boycott” of Hungary and that the country would be present at the next gathering. “The meeting will take place with the full participation of all member states,” Borrell insisted.
According to Reuters, Hungarian Foreign Minister Peter Szijjarto called the decision to strip Hungary of hosting rights “childish,” telling reporters, “I really don't want to offend anyone, but this is probably just a kindergarten-level game.” debate”.
Uneasiness breeds
The EU and member state Hungary have clashed repeatedly over Ukraine and Budapest over ongoing diplomatic and energy ties with Russia.
The decision to deny Hungary the right to host the next informal meeting of EU foreign ministers is the latest downgrade in EU-Hungary relations. The European Commission has banned the European Commissioner from attending meetings in Hungary during the EU's rotating presidency, which begins in early July.
Hungary, located on the eastern side of the EU, advocates a ceasefire and a negotiated settlement of the Ukrainian conflict, rather than believing that continued EU assistance will allow Kyiv to continue fighting a war of attrition. Budapestt It was said that Russia's superiority in manpower and resources made the war unwinnable.
Kyiv strongly rejects that position and its allies, including the European Union and NATO, say they are helping Ukraine defend its territorial integrity and sovereignty after Russia's unprovoked incursion. The EU slammed Orban's recent meeting with Vladimir Putin in Moscow and said “appeasement” would not stop the Russian leader.
On July 5, 2024, Russian President Vladimir Putin met with Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban at the Kremlin in Moscow, Russia.
Valery Sharivlin | Reuters
Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban told CNBC last week that “there is no solution to the conflict on the battlefield” and that he sees his mission as changing EU policy toward Ukraine.
“My job is to convince them to move from pro-war policies to pro-peace policies,” Orban said.
“They believe they can destroy the Russians' army… But I don't believe that at all, because I know the Russians, I know the Soviet Union, I know the Ukrainians. I belong to a group where I know the whole situation. Finding solutions on the battlefield is It’s impossible, we lose thousands of innocent people every day,” Orban told CNBC last Thursday while attending the European Political Community meeting at Blenheim Palace in the UK.
“Human life is the most precious thing we can lose and we do it every day, by the thousands. We have to stop it. That's as a neighbor. That's my point… the solution Put it on the table, a ceasefire table, that's what I'm trying to convince them of, but it takes time,” he added.