EU postpones high-level meetings in protest against Orbán’s stance on Ukraine war

London
CNN
—

The meeting of the European Union’s foreign and defense ministers planned for August will be moved from Budapest to Brussels, the Union’s top diplomat said on Monday. This is the latest escalation of a dispute between the Union and Hungary over the Hungarian prime minister’s stance on the war in Ukraine.

Hungary’s far-right Prime Minister Viktor Orbán caused a stir among EU heads of state and government when he recently claimed that the Union was pursuing a “pro-war policy”.

Borrell responded to Orban’s comment during a press conference in Brussels: “I understood that we have to send a signal, even if it is a symbolic signal, that if we are against the foreign policy of the European Union and disqualify the policy of the European Union as a ‘war party’, there must be consequences.”

“We have analyzed the statements and the measures implemented” by the Hungarian Prime Minister and Foreign Minister, said the EU’s chief diplomat. “I can say that all member states, with one exception, viewed this behavior very critically,” he added.

“The policy of the European Union is not a war-friendly policy. We have firmly rejected that,” said Borrel, adding: “The only one who is in favor of war is Putin.”

The informal meetings of the EU Council’s foreign and defence ministers are scheduled to take place in Budapest from August 28 to 30, according to the EU Council’s website. Hungary currently holds the rotating EU Council Presidency.

Borrell’s decision comes after European Council President Charles Michel, in a letter published last week, strongly rejected Orbán’s claim that the EU was pursuing a “pro-war policy”.

“Russia is the aggressor and Ukraine is the victim, exercising its legitimate right to self-defense. Russia is waging a war of aggression in blatant violation of international law, the territorial integrity and sovereignty of Ukraine under the UN Charter,” Michel wrote.

Orbán further angered EU lawmakers with his latest so-called “peacekeeping missions” in early July, including meetings with Russian President Vladimir Putin in Moscow, Chinese President Xi Jinping in Beijing and, most recently, former US President Donald Trump at his Mar-a-Lago residence in Florida.

The authoritarian Hungarian president is trying to portray himself as a peacemaker in the Ukraine conflict. But his stance contradicts that of most EU heads of state and government, who have pledged full support to Ukraine in its attempt to fend off Russian military action.

In his letter to the heads of state and government, Orban said that during the meetings it was “generally agreed” that “the intensity of the military conflict” in Ukraine “will escalate radically in the near future.”

A letter to the three EU leaders signed by over 63 European MPs said Orban had caused “significant damage” through his meetings. They called on the Union’s leaders to suspend Hungary’s voting rights in the European Council, arguing that “mere verbal condemnation” of Hungary “has no effect”.

European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen later sharply criticized the Hungarian prime minister’s visit to Moscow, calling it a “appeasement mission.” Orbán responded to CNN by saying he had merely fulfilled his “Christian duty” by visiting Putin.

“If you have a position and can influence bad things to improve them, you have to do that,” Orban told CNN last week.

With additional reporting by Niamh Kennedy, James Frater, Amy Cassidy and Jennifer Hansler