Hungary faces more criticism and boycotted meetings over Orbán's visits to Russia and China

BUDAPEST, Hungary (AP) — Some European Union leaders protested on Tuesday what they see as Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán’s misuse of the bloc’s rotating presidency, with many including those in the EU’s executive commission boycotting an informal meeting hosted by Hungary in response to Orbán’s actions.

Officials are angry that Orbán, a nationalist populist who is seen as having the warmest ties with Russian President Vladimir Putin among EU leaders, made unannounced trips to Moscow and Beijing earlier this month on what he called a “peace mission” aimed at brokering an end to Russia’s war in Ukraine.

Orbán said he was seeking the quickest path to peace in Ukraine and portrayed himself as uniquely positioned to communicate with both warring parties. He also met last week with former U.S. President Donald Trump at his Mar-a-Lago compound and expressed confidence that Trump would quickly “solve” the conflict.

But Orbán’s EU partners were startled by the appearance that he was acting on behalf of the 27-member bloc during his meetings with Putin and Chinese President Xi Jinping, and worried that he was undermining EU unity on support for Ukraine. Hungary holds the rotating presidency of the EU Council from July to December 2024.

In response, some nations including Sweden and Finland, as well as the EU Commission, said their top officials would boycott meetings in Budapest and send civil servants instead.

But not all EU members acted in kind. The energy ministers of Austria, Belgium and Bulgaria attended an informal meeting on energy on Tuesday in Hungary’s capital, with one downplaying the boycott.

“I think that we have a good representation,” Vladimir Malinov, Bulgaria’s caretaker energy minister, said as he entered the meeting. “Having in mind that this is an informal meeting, it’s not an issue. Maybe on the formal level we will have much more high representation.”

The commission’s plan to boycott the meetings prompted mixed reactions from Hungarian officials, with some employing the kind of bellicose tone that has long characterized Orbán’s government when it comes to the EU.

Kinga Gál, a top EU lawmaker from Orbán’s Fidesz party, said the commission’s decision is “clearly a part of von der Leyen’s election campaign,” a reference to Commission President Ursula von der Leyen, who hopes to be elected to another five-year term on Thursday.

“We have become used to (von der Leyen) using the EU institutions, especially against Hungary for political blackmail and pressure,” Gál wrote on the social media site X on Monday. “This is unacceptable and goes against the very essence of European cooperation.”

Hungary’s Finance Minister Mihály Varga was more subdued, saying in Brussels on Tuesday that Hungary’s EU presidency “remains committed to sincere cooperation with all member states and institutions.”

Varga said ministers “are free to decide to take part in our events or not. But I am absolutely sure that there will be a high-level participation in the events.”

Meanwhile, a group of 63 lawmakers in the EU legislature wrote a letter to the bloc’s top officials on Monday urging them to strip Hungary of its voting rights over Orbán’s recent trips.

The letter, addressed to von der Leyen, European Council President Charles Michel and head of the European Parliament Roberta Metsola, says Orbán has “already caused significant damage by exploiting and abusing” the rotating presidency by giving the impression he’d been acting on behalf of the EU.

Orbán “intentionally misrepresented his empowerments” during his meetings with Putin and Xi, lawmakers wrote, adding: “This kind of behavior amounts to usurping the powers and prerogatives of the EU” and “actively undermining common EU positions” on Ukraine.

The Hungarian leader’s recent conduct, the letter continues, “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.”

During a media briefing on Tuesday, Stefan de Keersmaecker, a commission spokesperson, said that by sending lower-level officials to Hungary’s meetings, the body wanted to “mark our disapproval” with Orbán’s uncoordinated trips and the message they sent concerning the war in Ukraine.

The visits, he said, “have indeed harmed the indispensable image of unity in the European Union.”

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Associated Press writer Mike Corder in The Hague, Netherlands, contributed to this report.