Hungary not in 'right reference group' in EU: Finland FM
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Finland's foreign minister said after an EU foreign ministers meeting on Monday that Hungary is not entitled to represent the European Council since its foreign policy views “do not correspond to the official line of the union."
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Finland’s Minister for Foreign Affairs Elina Valtonen speaks to the media during a Foreign Affairs Council (FAC) meeting at the EU headquarters in Brussels on January 22, 2024. (AFP)
Finnish Foreign Minister Elina Valtonen says the European Union may not be the "right reference group" for Hungary due to Budapest's diverging views compared to the bloc, especially following her accusation of Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban giving the impressing that he was representing the EU during his "peace mission" visits to Russia and China.
Valtonen said after an EU foreign ministers meeting on Monday that Hungary is not entitled to represent the European Council since its foreign policy views “do not correspond to the official line of the union."
“Of course, it is up to the individual country to do so,” Valtonen told the Helsingin Sanomat newspaper. “But at some point, it may be worth asking whether the European Union is the right reference group if the ideas differ so fundamentally from our common values.”
Orban's 'peace mission' meetings
Hungary is the European Council's current rotary president, assuming the position in July, ultimately defining the 27-nation alliance's political views and priorities. Prime Minister Orban immediately set off on his Ukraine "peace mission," seeking to resolve the conflict between the European state and Russia by holding talks with China, the EU, the United States, Ukraine, and Russia.
The Hungarian leader was met with backlash from his allies after meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin, which the European Parliament described as “a blatant violation of the EU’s treaties and common foreign policy.”
Members of EU call for stripping Hungary of voting rights
Following the Hungarian prime minister's visits to China and Russia, European Parliament members asked that Hungary's right to vote in EU elections be taken away.
Prime Minister Orban "has already caused significant damage by exploiting and abusing the role of the Council Presidency," 63 MEPs said in a letter obtained by Politico and addressed to European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen, European Council President Charles Michel, and European Parliament Chief Roberta Metsola.
Belgium relinquished its rotating EU Council leadership to Hungary on July 1. Ever since, Orban went on what some subbed “peace missions” to Beijing, Moscow, Kiev, and Washington.
The MEPs said that Orban “undertook several diplomatic visits," notably to visit Putin in Russia and Xi Jinping in China, during which he intentionally misrepresented his empowerments,” and called on the parliament to act accordingly.
“This requires real actions, such as suspending Hungary’s voting rights in the Council, since practice has shown that mere verbal condemnations of this situation have no effect,” they added.
This follows a confidential letter by the Hungarian Prime Minister to EU leaders after consulting with Moscow and Beijing, suggesting that to find a peaceful end to the war in Ukraine, the EU should resume direct diplomatic relations with Russia and begin "high-level" talks with China.
In the letter, Orban added that the "general observation" based on his recent talks with Presidents Volodymyr Zelensky of Ukraine, Xi Jinping of China, and Vladimir Putin of Russia was "that the intensity of the military conflict will radically escalate in the near future."
His visits with US presidential candidate Donald Trump, Xi, and Putin in July while serving as the rotating president of the European Union startled his partners in the alliance and the bloc.
Orban visited Russia earlier this month on a peace mission that began with his earlier visit to Kiev and continued to China. Sources familiar with the matter told the newspaper that the EU's legal service informed member states on July 10 that Orban's actions violated agreements that prohibit any measures "which could undermine the achievement of the Union's objectives."
At the same time, the Hungarian leader is reported to have violated a provision that mandates all members to conduct foreign policy "unreservedly in a spirit of loyalty and mutual solidarity."
