Members of the European Parliament have created a petition to deprive Hungarian PM Viktor Orbán of his right to vote in the European Council.
What is known about the possibility of depriving Orbán of his right to vote in the Eurocouncil
This is decidedly different from everything we have done so far with regard to Hungary — the procedure provided for in Article 7, Part 2 of the Treaty on the EU has never been initiated, the petition authors said in a statement.
According to Euro Parliament Member (EPM) Petri Sarvamaa, the EU's decision-making mechanism is stuck because of Viktor Orban.
Now or never. The only way to make him work is to deprive Orbán of the right to vote in the Council, Sarvamaa emphasised.
The EPM also believes that in this way, it will be possible to demonstrate the inadmissibility of blackmail in the EU.
EU members have until Friday to sign the petition, which Sarvamaa called historic, after which it will be sent to European Parliament President Roberta Mezzoli.
Can Orbán become interim head of the Eurocouncil after Charles Michel?
According to the overwhelming majority of European politicians and experts, Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán has no chance of even temporarily heading the EU Council after the resignation of the current head, Charles Michel.
However, even if Viktor Orban temporarily takes the place of chairman of the Eurocouncil, experts do not expect serious consequences for Ukraine.
Oleksandr Merezhko, head of the Verkhovna Rada Committee on Foreign Affairs, believes that Orban, even in the case of temporary leadership of the European Council, will be forced to stay in line with general European policy.
They do not make a tragedy out of the possible temporary presidency of Viktor Orban, who is not a friend of Ukraine, in the Eurocouncil and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Ukraine.
Even if Orbán will perform these functions there for six months, he will still be the president of the EU during that time, since the presidency of Hungary. We will survive these six months, Merezhko emphasised.
