Ursula von der Leyen announces boycott of Hungarian EU presidency, a decision that responds to Viktor Orbán’s controversial peace mission.
Like European leaders, Hungarian public opinion is divided over Viktor Orbán’s diplomatic campaign, which he describes as a peace mission.
The European Commission has announced that it will boycott major events of the Hungarian presidency. Only lower-level officials will travel to Budapest for the negotiations instead of the usual ministers and commissioners.
In a Facebook video, Hungarian State Secretary for European Affairs Barna Pál Zsigmond said that the European Union refuses to negotiate because it wants to resolve the conflict in Ukraine by force of arms at all costs: “We regret that the current von der Leyen Commission subordinates the prosperity, peace and security of Europe to its own political interests. It still does not care about the opinion of the European people, it is still on the side of war. And it blackmails those, including Hungary, who work for peace.”
The Hungarian opposition thinks otherwise. According to several local media outlets, no one wants to sit at the same table as Viktor Orbán since the Hungarian Prime Minister visited Moscow and Beijing.
Actions that will remain largely without consequences. Political scientist Gergely Rajnai told Euronews that the prime minister had not broken any rules and that no serious sanctions could therefore be expected: “If he signed documents or conducted serious negotiations as an official representative of the EU, then the Hungarian presidency or Viktor Orbán personally could be sanctioned in one way or another. But I think the government is too smart to break the rules in this way.”
A foreign affairs summit is due to be held in Budapest at the end of August, but no EU ministers are expected to attend because EU foreign policy chief Josep Borell is hosting another event at the same time.
The respondents did not know more about European politics than what the government posters indicated. So they are not proud of the Hungarian EU presidency, but at least they are not sad about the boycott.