“Symbolic” consequences – EU moves ministerial meeting from Budapest to Brussels
Hungary, led by Viktor Orbán, has held the EU Council presidency since July 1.
Source: dpa/Alexander Zemlianichenko
There is still great anger in Brussels over Viktor Orbán’s “peace mission”: EU foreign policy chief Joseph Borrell wants to snub Budapest at the next meeting of foreign and defense ministers. But the shot may backfire.
DThe EU Commission is drawing further conclusions from Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán’s unilateral actions: EU foreign policy chief Joseph Borrell said on Monday that the next meetings of foreign and defense ministers would be held in Brussels – not the Hungarian capital, Budapest.
Borrell said after a ministerial meeting in Brussels that he took the decision after a majority of ministers spoke about Hungary and wanted to impose “symbolic” consequences on Hungary. According to Borrell, 25 foreign ministers condemned Orbán’s behavior. Hungary received support only from Slovakia.
But Borrell also drew harsh criticism for his uncoordinated move to cancel the Budapest meeting. “Spain will not support boycotts in the European Union,” Foreign Minister Jose Manuel Albarez said. Xavier Bettel, Luxembourg’s foreign minister, called the boycott idea “stupid”. Bettel insisted that he wanted to go to Budapest and get his point across to the faces of Hungarians. Germany, France and the Netherlands also expressed their opposition to Borel’s proposal.
In Brussels, it cannot be ruled out that Borel’s boycott campaign will eventually backfire: several ministers are said to be absent from the August 28-30 Brussels meeting in protest.
Hungary has held the rotating presidency of the Council of the European Union for six months since the beginning of July. Soon after it began, Orban made surprise visits to Ukraine, Russia and China on a self-imposed peace mission. He met US presidential candidate Donald Trump. His meetings drew criticism among EU member states.
The EU Commission had already made its first decisions a week earlier. A spokesman had said that no commissioners would be sent to informal meetings of Hungary’s Council presidency, but only senior officials. The decision was taken by the President of the European Union Commission, Ursula van der Leyen. There will also be no regular opening visit of the Commission to the new Council Presidency.
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