Hungary would face punishment from the European Union for attempting to hold a “peace mission” to Moscow and Beijing earlier this month, EU foreign policy chief Josep Borrell warned.
Borrell said Hungary would not be allowed to hold a strategy meeting next month because of Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán’s visits to Russia and China aimed at ending the war in Ukraine, according to Morning Star.
The EU stated that it believed the missions undermined its support for Ukraine.
We have to send a signal, even if it is a symbolic signal.
The announcement followed a decision that the next meeting of foreign and defence ministers would be held in Brussels instead of Budapest. Hungary currently holds the rotating presidency of the 27-member bloc, so it had expected to hold its annual meeting, known as the Gymnich, at the end of August.
Borrell announced that the meeting would be held in September in the Belgian capital. Before announcing the decision, Hungarian Foreign Minister Péter Szijjártó said the idea of moving the August meeting from Budapest to Brussels was an act of “fantastic revenge.”
Other EU leaders insisted that Orbán did not represent them at the meetings. In response, some EU countries, as well as the European Commission, stated that their senior officials would boycott informal bloc meetings hosted by Hungary and send civil servants instead.
On 1 July, Hungary assumed a six-month rotating role. Orbán has since visited Ukraine, Russia, Azerbaijan, China, and the United States on a world tour aimed at ending the war in Ukraine.
