Van der Leyen ordered a boycott

EU Commission President Ursula von der Leyen reacts to Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán’s unilateral actions in Ukraine policy with a boycott decision.

The German top politician announced that future informal ministerial meetings chaired by the current EU Council Presidency in Hungary would not be attended by commissioners, but only by high-ranking officials.

In addition, a spokesperson announced that the EU Commission would abandon the traditional opening visit of the Hungarian presidency. There was an initially angry reaction from Budapest’s minister for EU affairs, János Boca.

Orban’s “Peace Work”

The background to Van der Leyen’s decision was a foreign visit by Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán, which is not integrated with the EU, just days after Hungary began its EU Council presidency. Orban met with Kremlin leader Vladimir Putin in Moscow and staged it as a “peace mission” to resolve the Ukraine conflict. He later went to Beijing to meet Chinese President and Party Leader Xi Jinping and to the US to meet former US President Donald Trump.

The trips met with great displeasure in the EU – particularly the fact that the Kremlin was able to use the visit to Moscow for its campaign and that Orban did not clearly represent the EU position on Ukraine policy during the trip.

The European Commission has repeatedly made clear that Orban is not acting on behalf of the international community. There was clear criticism from the Ministry of External Affairs as well. A speaker at a federal press conference in Berlin said last Friday:

On these trips, Orbán speaks only for himself – not for the EU. Regarding the possible consequences, the spokesman said it remains to be seen how the Hungarian Council Presidency proceeds. “It’s already done a lot of damage to the land.”

Some countries have already taken action

In response to Orbán’s individual efforts at the start of the EU Council presidency, Lithuania and Sweden announced that they would not temporarily send ministers to meetings in Hungary. Jessica Rosewall, Sweden’s current EU minister and EU commissioner-designate, said Hungary’s actions were harmful and should have consequences. According to Roswall, Finland, Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania and Poland would like to react similarly to the Hungarian operations.

It is also currently being discussed in Brussels whether the informal EU foreign ministers’ meeting planned for late August in Budapest should be moved to Brussels. A decision could be made by EU chief diplomat Joseph Borrell at the EU’s last regular meeting of EU foreign ministers before the summer break next Monday. He chairs meetings of EU foreign ministers and is also responsible for convening them.

The decision comes shortly before a vote in the EU Parliament

The EU Commission’s decision comes days before a vote on Ursula van der Leyen’s second term in the European Parliament. European party families such as the Social Democrats, Greens and Liberals have repeatedly called for a tougher line towards Hungary in the past. Van der Leyen is counting on votes from this camp in Thursday’s election.

Green MEP Daniel Freund said:

Van der Leyen does exactly that, he continued. Parliament should now follow their example. “Meaning: No invitation to Viktor Orbán to the European Parliament.”

Hungary has held the Presidency of the Council of the European Union for six months since the beginning of this month. In this role, the government prepares, among other things, special ministerial meetings. These informal meetings usually bring together heads of department from the 27 EU countries. The responsible EU Commissioner also usually participates in the meeting.

Outrage in Budapest

The boycott decision was met with anger by Hungary’s government. “The EU Commission cannot choose the institutions and ministers it wants to cooperate with. Are all the Commission’s decisions now political considerations?” Hungary’s Minister for EU Affairs János Boca wrote in X. (sda/dpa/lyn).