Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán cancelled a planned speech to the European Parliament over flooding in the country, according to Euractiv.
Due to the extreme weather conditions and the ongoing floods in Hungary, I have postponed all my international obligations.
Last week, the European Parliament formally invited the Hungarian government to address the legislature in Strasbourg on Wednesday, 18 September. The invitation is traditional as Hungary is in the middle of its six-month rotating presidency in negotiations between the EU’s 27 member states.
However, the European Parliament’s invitation is addressed to the Hungarian government, not Orbán personally, so Budapest can send anyone to speak in place of the prime minister.
Over the past few days, heavy rains caused severe flooding across the EU, including Hungary, Austria, Romania, Slovakia, the Czech Republic, and Poland. On Monday, Orbán convened a “flood defence task force,” according to communications chief Zoltán Kovács.
