2024-07-09 20:09:42
After Hungary’s Prime Minister Orban’s controversial trip to Moscow, Foreign Minister Baerbock wanted to talk to her colleague in Budapest. However, the meeting will not take place for the time being.
A trip to Budapest planned for Monday by Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock will not take place. The Hungarian side canceled Foreign Minister Peter Szijjarto’s appointment with Baerbock at short notice, as the Foreign Office confirmed in the evening. The trip will be rescheduled for a later date. The German side regretted the cancellation. “A serious and honest personal conversation between the two foreign ministers would have been important in view of Prime Minister Orbán’s surprising and uncoordinated trip to Moscow,” the Foreign Office said.
Hungary took over the rotating EU Council Presidency on July 1. Prime Minister Viktor Orban provoked EU and NATO partners on Friday with an uncoordinated visit to Russian President Vladimir Putin. EU Commission President Ursula von der Leyen made it clear that she sees Orban’s solo action as a threat to the credibility of the European Union. Chancellor Olaf Scholz (SPD) made it clear that Orban was travelling to Putin as Prime Minister of Hungary and not as a foreign policy representative of the EU.