Increasingly tense relations between the European Union and President Viktor Orbán’s Hungary. The latest decision, not yet confirmed, that could exacerbate diplomatic hostilities is the proposal by High Commissioner for Foreign Affairs Josep Borrell to boycott the next informal summit scheduled in Budapest. The meeting, known as Gymnich, was organized for the end of August, but the head of EU diplomacy has put forward the idea of an alternative informal summit in Brussels on the same days. An overlap that would coincide with an affront to the Hungarian government, which on July 1 took over the six-month presidency of the European Council. The decision would come after weeks of long-distance clashes between Budapest on the one hand and Brussels and other European capitals on the other. Orbán is guilty of having undertaken a “peace tour”, visiting Ukraine, Russia, China and the United States in a very short time at the court of Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump.
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Although he did not come with a mandate from Brussels, the Hungarian leader’s decision to make these diplomatically sensitive trips just as he has taken over the leadership of the European Semester has sparked widespread criticism among the governments of the bloc’s states. So far, the measures taken in response have been more softsimply by sending delegates of lower hierarchical rank to the various meetings coordinated by Hungarian diplomacy. Organizing an “alternative” summit would, however, represent a rift that is more difficult to heal. The Italian government has already expressed its opposition, in line with the never-disavowed closeness between Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni and the leader of the Hungarian far right.
The boycott wanted by Borrell
Borrell announced that he will decide how to proceed in view of the Gymnich of 28 and 29 August in Hungary after discussing it with the EU foreign ministers, meeting on 22 July in Brussels. “We will discuss what happened and the positions taken by the Hungarian government. We will discuss: I do not know what the member states will say. The decision is mine, it is the High Representative who convenes the Councils. After listening to the member states, I will make a decision”, the Spanish diplomat explained to the press. The boycott would be a “punishment” against Budapest for having launched foreign policy initiatives without consulting or agreeing its moves with the other 26 member states. Before the restricted session, the heads of EU diplomacies will have a meeting with their Ukrainian counterpart Dmytro Kuleba.
Hungary’s response
Pending the decision, Budapest has rejected the accusations through Hungarian Foreign Minister Péter Szijjártó, who is expected to meet with his EU counterparts. “The foreign affairs bureaucracy in Brussels and the leaders of some EU member states are sharpening their tongues over our peacekeeping mission out of frustration and jealousy and because their reckless strategy has been revealed,” the minister wrote on social media.
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The reference is to the meeting of Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán with the presidents of Russia and China, Vladimir Putin and Xi Jinping, as well as with former US President Donald Trump. Szijjártó noted that after these talks the Swiss Foreign Minister met with his Russian counterpart, the US and Russian defense ministers held talks, while Trump spoke with the head of state of Ukraine, Volodymyr Zelensky. In short, Hungary would have ended up in the crosshairs, but other diplomacies would also be moving in the same direction as Orbán. “Put on your armor and prepare for a barrage of fire,” Szijjártó concluded, referring to the meeting in the European capital.
Italy’s position
Italy also expressed its negative opinion on the boycott decision. “I believe that the rule should be respected, that is, going to Budapest. Maybe you can also say things you don’t agree with, but I don’t think that you should have a reaction that could also sound like an offense to Hungary,” Foreign Minister Antonio Tajani commented upon his arrival in Brussels. “Hungary is part of the Union regardless of the government that is in place. We cannot make choices based on governments. We must make choices based on institutions,” the leader of Forza Italia specified, insisting on the fact that, beyond the criticism, a change of program would constitute “a dangerous precedent” “that could then be used on other occasions.”
The ironic commentary on North Korea
The fierce criticism of the Hungarian presidency was accompanied by the sometimes ironic comment of Luxembourg’s Foreign Minister Xavier Bettel. “It is true that Viktor Orbán’s peace tour is something isolated. It is a unilateral decision, he has never done it in the name of the EU. He went to China, the US, Russia. I am surprised that he has not yet been to Pyongyang, because the only one missing is Kim Jong-Un among those he could have visited to tell him that it is not nice to send weapons (to Russia),” Bettel said. He also pointed out, however, that it would be a “mistake” not to go to the informal Foreign Council organized in Hungary. “We need to go to Hungary to tell the Hungarians that we are not happy with the way things are done. But not choosing dialogue, I think, would be a big mistake,” he concluded.
