Few EU finance ministers attend Budapest meet amid ire over Orbán

Hungarian Finance Minister Mihály Varga said he was pleased with the attendance at a strategic meeting of EU finance ministers in Budapest on Friday despite many countries boycotting the event.

Only up to nine European Union finance ministers took part, according to a dpa survey of EU member states ahead of the meeting.

Varga said that all EU countries were represented "mostly at high level" and noted the participation of international institutions like the International Monetary Fund (IMF).

"It's an informal meeting, which means that no decisions will be made this time. Taking this into account, the large number of participants [is] an even greater success," Varga said.

Hungary holds the six-month rotating presidency of the EU Council. This means Budapest is responsible for coordinating policy and hosting a series of informal ministerial meetings during that period.

However, after Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán travelled to Moscow in July on a self-proclaimed "peace mission" to hold talks with Russian President Vladimir Putin, multiple EU countries announced a boycott of the Budapest meetings under the Hungarian EU Council.

Lithuania, Sweden and Denmark announced they would temporarily not be sending ministers to Budapest. Finance ministers from Finland, Estonia and Latvia are also not attending for the same reason.

Other EU members put forward various reasons not to attend.

German Finance Minister Christian Lindner is not able to go due to budget talks on Friday, he said, despite having no budget-related appointments on his agenda.

EU diplomats also cite various national appointments as a reason for not travelling or say that serious discussions are not possible with so few ministers in Budapest.

Other EU countries like Luxembourg disapprove and argue that more dialogue with Hungary is necessary. Luxembourg Finance Minister Gilles Roth will attend the meeting in Budapest.

Italy, Slovenia, Crotia, Malta, Cyprus, Belgium, Bulgaria and Slovakia are also expected to attend. "At the end of the day, it is always an individual choice of the minister," an EU diplomat said.

The European Commission under President Ursula von der Leyen also announced a boycott of Budapest meetings and said no commissioner would take part.

A separate meeting of EU finance ministers from the eurozone, called the Eurogroup, and chaired by its Irish President Paschal Donohoe, went ahead in Budapest on Friday.

Donohoe said that despite few EU finance ministers attending the Eurogroup gathering it was still worthwhile to meet in Budapest.

"Minsters made a decision on attendance for a variety of different reasons. It is up to each minister to outline why they did or did not attend if she or he wishes to do so," he said.

An EU official said the Eurogroup was a forum "completely separate from the EU Council" and for this reason the meeting went ahead in Budapest.