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Hungary said on Monday it would not send European Union commissioners to informal meetings organised by its presidency of the European Union, accusing it of effectively reducing the involvement of the bloc’s executive arm.
It comes after Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban met U.S. presidential candidate Donald Trump last week and earlier made surprise visits to Kiev, Moscow and Beijing on a self-described “peace mission,” sparking criticism from EU member states.
Hungary will hold the rotating presidency of the European Union for six months, ending on December 31.
“The European Union is an international organization made up of member states. The European Commission is an institution of the European Union,” Hungarian European Affairs Minister János Boca said on social media platform X.
“The European Commission cannot pick and choose the institutions and member states it wants to work with. Are all the Commission’s decisions now based on political considerations?” he added.
A European Commission spokesman had previously said the agency would not send a dedicated commissioner to attend the informal meeting organised by Hungary’s EU presidency.
Eric Mamer, spokesman for the European Commission president, said on the 10th: “In light of the recent developments under the Hungarian presidency of the European Union, European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen has decided that the European Commission will only be represented by senior civil servants at informal meetings of the Council.”
He added: “The college will not visit the presidential palace.”
In a separate message to journalists, Mamer noted that the decision, which is not subject to time limits, effectively reduces the Commission’s involvement, as EU ministerial meetings are usually attended by specialist commissioners who discuss policy areas.
Kinga Gal, an EU lawmaker and vice president of Orban’s Fidesz party, said the move was part of von der Leyen’s election campaign.
“We have become accustomed to her using EU institutions, particularly against Hungary, for political blackmail and pressure. This is unacceptable and goes against the very essence of European cooperation,” she said on X.
Von der Leyen is trying to secure the support of a majority of EU lawmakers in Thursday’s vote to secure a second term.
Last week, the Swedish government said Finland, Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, Poland and Sweden would not send ministers to a government meeting this month linked to Hungary’s presidency of the European Union in protest against Orban’s talks with Russian President Vladimir Putin.
Sweden’s EU affairs minister, Jessika Roswall, said representatives from those countries would all be civil servants, and other EU member states were discussing similar moves.
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