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EU member states sharply criticized Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán on Wednesday for his solo diplomatic moves toward Ukraine, but stopped short of discussing how to curb potential future efforts by Budapest.
During a two-hour meeting on Wednesday, EU ambassadors sought further clarity on the purpose and outcome of Hungary’s recent visits to Russian President Vladimir Putin and Chinese President Xi Jinping, moves that Budapest said were ‘Peace Mission’ Resolve the ongoing war in Ukraine.
EU leaders and officials Unanimous agreement In recent days, the European Union condemned Hungary’s surprise visit to Moscow, insisting that Budapest’s actions did not represent the entire EU.
According to EU diplomats who attended the meeting, the EU envoy vented his anger at Hungary, emphasizing that Orban’s actions were incompatible with Hungary’s rotating presidency of the European Union.
Several EU diplomats said that with the exception of Slovakia, which did not participate in the discussions, a total of 25 EU member states “expressed general dissatisfaction or anger with the process under the Hungarian presidency.”
Hungary’s envoy to the EU used the meeting to present his country’s rationale for the visit, echoing the views of other senior Hungarian officials. Public Duplicate The last few days.
“Hungary tried to argue that these visits were strictly bilateral and were only intended to understand the feasibility and conditions of a ceasefire,” said an EU diplomat.
While Budapest acknowledged that its initiative was not authorized by the EU, it created ambiguity by using the logo and hashtag of the Hungarian presidency of the EU, and Putin approached Orban in the hope that he would represent the EU’s position.
However, this only led the 25 member states to “make it very clear that this claim is not credible, given the timing and sequence of the meetings, the use of the chairmanship label and Putin’s reaction”, the diplomats said.
They added: “These lines are clearly blurred on purpose.”
Several EU diplomats said the EU’s legal department had made “a clear and strong argument that all member states are bound by the principle of genuine cooperation and that the rotating presidency has only a limited role in the EU’s external representation.”
However, EU member states did not discuss options on how to deal with the issue, nor did they call for “containment” of Hungary’s actions as some countries had previously called for, including Poland, which had initially put the issue on the agenda of Wednesday’s meeting.
“No one has raised the issue of ending or shortening the presidency. No concrete measures have been proposed or taken,” said a second EU diplomat.
However, many EU diplomats stressed that they wanted to discuss the matter again if Hungary continued down this path.
In any case, some EU member states have shown signs of diplomatic snubs by sending more junior officials than expected to attend the informal meeting organized by Hungary.
Some EU diplomats described the low-level attendance as “deliberate boycott”, but Hungarian officials were keen Downplaying concerns On possible avoidance of EU presidency meetings.
(Editing by Daniel Ek)
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