After Orban's visit to Moscow: EU commissioners boycott informal meetings in Hungary
The EU Commission will only be represented at the informal meetings planned in Hungary until the end of the year at a high-level, Mamer stated. The scheduled Commissioners' meeting in Hungary in September, which was already postponed once, will not take place, he added.
A possible EU Foreign Ministers' meeting scheduled for August in Budapest could also be boycotted. The EU Foreign Policy Chief Josep Borrell could prevent the ministers from traveling to Hungary by summoning them to a different meeting in Brussels instead, several diplomats in Brussels stated.
Orbán directly angered EU partners at the beginning of the Hungarian EU Presidency from July 1st with his self-proclaimed "Peace Mission" in the Ukraine conflict. Orbán visited not only Russian President Vladimir Putin and former US President Donald Trump but also Chinese State Council Chairman Xi Jinping.
After the Moscow-visit, Ursula von der Leyen, the President of the European Commission, expressed concerns about Hungary's adherence to EU values. In a meeting with EU-Commissioners, Eric Mamer, the Commission's Chief Spokesperson, discussed the boycott of certain meetings in Hungary. Despite the postponement, the Commissioners' meeting in September is unlikely to take place, as suggested by Mamer. This boycott potentially extends to the EU Foreign Ministers' meeting scheduled for August in Budapest, which could be moved to Brussels at the behest of the EU Foreign Policy Chief Josep Borrell. The actions of Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán, including his visits to Putin, Trump, and Xi Jinping, have further strained relations between Hungary and the European Union.
