2024-07-14 00:54:19
The EU countries are considering the possibility of canceling Hungary’s six-month presidency of the EU Council following Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban’s visits to Russia and China. This was reported by the EUobserver portal, citing European diplomats, Day.Az reports, citing TASS.
According to him, EU ambassadors will discuss Orban’s trip to Moscow and Beijing on July 10 at a meeting of the Committee of Permanent Representatives to the EU. The EU is unhappy with Orban’s use of the logo of Hungary’s presidency of the Council of the EU during his visits, the portal reports, despite statements that he is acting only on behalf of Budapest.
As EUobserver’s sources indicated, some countries are talking behind the scenes about a scenario according to which Hungary could be deprived of the presidency, and its place would be taken by two countries at once – Spain and Belgium – by the end of this year. In addition, the portal reports, several European countries are discussing the possibility of moving the venue of the European Political Community (EPC) summit, which is scheduled to take place in Budapest in November. An informal decision on the move could be made on July 18 in London at the next EPC meeting.
The portal explains that in order to take any action against Hungary based on the current community legislation, the EU countries would first need to unanimously recognize that Budapest’s actions undermine the values of the European Union, cancel the Hungarian presidency and deprive it of voting rights in the EU Council. However, EUobserver points out that this will be difficult to achieve, since Slovakia is likely to block such steps.
On July 5, Orban visited Moscow, where he met with Russian President Vladimir Putin, discussed possible ways to resolve the conflict in Ukraine and the start of peace talks. From Moscow, the prime minister flew to Beijing to meet with Chinese President Xi Jinping. Before his visit to Russia, Orban discussed the settlement of the conflict in Ukraine with Volodymyr Zelensky on July 2 in Kyiv.