EU foreign ministers are set to ignore Hungary and hold their summit in August instead of travelling to Budapest for Orbán's event.
Points of attention
- EU foreign ministers plan to skip the Budapest summit and hold their own in August because of Orbán's trips to Russia and China.
- By boycotting the event in Budapest, EU countries want to send a signal to Orbán that Hungary is not acting in the interests of the EU.
- Viktor Orbán began to use the status of the European presidency without coordination with other countries, which led to discussions about the possibility of terminating his powers.
- Hungary presides over the EU Council, but Orbán broke protocol 10 days into his presidency and forced the EU to consider removing him.
- According to the Lisbon Treaty, the presidency of the EU can be interrupted by a qualified majority vote at the summit, without legal obstacles.
Orbán will be punished for his "peace" tour to Russia and China
Hungary, which currently chairs the EU Council, plans to hold a summit of foreign ministers in Budapest on August 28-29. Instead, the heads of foreign affairs of the EU countries want to take revenge on Orbán for the fact that he obstructed the provision of aid to Ukraine and made so-called peaceful visits to Vladimir Putin and Xi Jinping, which he did not agree with the 26 other leaders of the European Union.
In their opinion, this summit can become another propaganda show of Orbán, so they intend to organise their own summit, ignoring the meeting of the heads of foreign affairs in Budapest.
Thus, according to three EU diplomats who spoke anonymously, the head of the EU foreign policy department, Borrell, plans to convene the ministers for an "official" council of foreign ministers at the same time as Orban's summit.
If an official council of foreign ministers organised by the High Representative is held on the same day, the ministers will not be able to travel to Budapest.
According to another, by boycotting the meeting in Budapest, the other foreign ministers wanted to "send a clear signal that Hungary does not speak on behalf of the EU."
This plan has been informally discussed with several EU countries, particularly France and Germany. On July 17, Borrell's team will present the plan to the EU's 27 permanent representatives.
EU wants to get rid of self-proclaimed peacemaker Orbán
Viktor Orbán immediately began to use the status of the European presidency without the consent of other EU members.
Such behaviour angered Budapest's European allies for no reason.
For the first time in their history, they began to discuss the possibility of early termination of the powers of the presiding state, namely, Hungary.
Hungary's presidency of the EU Council, which began on July 1, was supposed to last six months, but Viktor Orbán spoiled everything within ten days.
Article 16 of the Lisbon Treaty only states that the chairmanship "is carried out on the basis of equal rotation", and the terms and sequence of this honorable mission are determined at the EU summit. Moreover, a qualified majority vote is sufficient for its approval. Therefore, there are no legal obstacles to take away a seat from Hungary at the next summit.
