Europe Despite disagreement: EU chief diplomat blocks meeting in Hungary
In reaction to Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban's trips to Moscow and Beijing, EU chief diplomat Josep Borrell has announced the boycott of a meeting of foreign ministers planned by Hungary in Budapest. The Spaniard announced in Brussels that he would instead invite foreign ministers to a meeting in Brussels after the end of the summer break.
22.07.2024, 19:05
SDA
Borrell took the decision after a meeting of EU foreign ministers in Brussels and against the declared will of countries such as Germany, Spain and Luxembourg. It initially remained unclear what concrete consequences it would have. Borrell said that he had tried to reach agreement among the EU states on how to proceed. Unfortunately, however, this was not possible.
At the meeting of foreign ministers in Brussels on Monday, a number of participants spoke out against Borrell's proposal to boycott the meeting, which the current Hungarian EU Council Presidency actually wanted to organize in Budapest at the end of August. Luxembourg's Foreign Minister Xavier Bettel, for example, spoke of nonsense and called for people to travel to Budapest and clearly express their opinion to the Hungarian government. Countries such as Spain and Slovenia also expressed clear opposition to the Borrell proposal.
According to diplomats, German Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock (Greens) and representatives of countries such as France and Italy expressed similar views behind the scenes. On the other side, however, were countries from north-eastern Europe such as Poland. Lithuania and Sweden had already announced days ago that they would temporarily not send ministers to Hungary for meetings in response to Orban's unilateral actions.
According to Poland's Foreign Minister Radoslaw Sikorski, a compromise proposal was briefly put forward on Monday to organize the foreign ministers' meeting planned by Hungary in Ukraine, which is under attack from Russia. However, this failed because Hungary would have had to agree.
Discussion has been going on for days
Possible EU reactions to Orban's meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin, China's head of state and party leader Xi Jinping and former US President Donald Trump have been discussed for days. They are considered particularly annoying because Hungary currently holds the rotating presidency of the EU Council. It is feared that the impression will be created abroad that Orban is speaking on behalf of the European Union at meetings. In terms of content, the main criticism is that the trip to Putin in particular could be seen as a concession.
Orban speaks of "peace mission"
Borrell called Orban's actions at the foreign ministers' meeting "completely unacceptable" and recalled the principle of loyal cooperation enshrined in the EU treaties, according to which the Union and the member states support each other. He also referred to statements made by Hungary's Foreign Minister Peter Szijjarto. In a recent speech at the UN Security Council, Szijjarto gave the impression that the EU was fueling the war in Ukraine through its policies and arms deliveries.
Orban speaks of a "peace mission". The Hungarian has long held the view that the political course of the EU and NATO could lead to an expansion of the war beyond Ukraine. From Ukraine's point of view, however, negotiations are pointless as long as Russia shows no willingness to withdraw from the occupied territories.
Hungarian minister flexes his muscles
In a letter to EU Council President Charles Michel following his travels, Orban wrote that the EU should now take the initiative and hold talks with China about a possible major peace conference. At the same time, diplomatic communication with Russia, which had been suspended due to the war in Ukraine, should be resumed.
German Foreign Minister Baerbock did not address these demands at the foreign ministers' meeting. She criticized the trips as "ego trips" that had caused irritation among many actors around the world.
Szijjarto published a photo of himself at the foreign ministers' meeting, showing him in a tight T-shirt and with a well-toned upper body. He also wrote that he was traveling to Brussels with a political bulletproof vest and was prepared for a political "firefight". He accused his counterparts of being frustrated by the failure of their own Ukraine policy. He also pointed out that there had been numerous other talks since Orban's "peace mission" - including between the US and Russian defense ministers and between Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyi and Trump.
