Brussels – Viktor Orbán will be in the Kremlin tomorrow to meet Vladimir Putin, just two days after the visit to Kyiv in which Orbán called the engagement for Ukraine “the main issue of the next six months of the Hungarian EU presidency.” However, from Brussels, after the endorsement for the auspicious meeting with Zelensky, comes the immediate correction: “The rotating presidency of the EU has no mandate to engage with Russia on behalf of the EU.”
Making it clear that this initiative is solely the child of Budapest’s balancing act between the EU and its friendship with the Russian dictator is the president of the European Council, Charles Michel. For the EU, “no discussion on Ukraine can take place without Ukraine,” he said in a post on X minutes after news of the Magyar premier’s trip to Moscow, reported by Hungarian broadcaster Radio Liberty citing a Budapest government source. According to Radio Liberty, Orbán will be accompanied by Foreign Minister Peter Szijjarto, a regular on the Budapest-Moscow route: since the beginning of the invasion of Ukraine, Szijjarto has been to the Russian capital at least five times.
Just four days before the start of Hungary’s dreaded six-month presidency of the EU Council, Europe’s most pro-Russian leader is already in danger of embarrassing the Union and creating tension with fellow heads of state and government. On July 2, in his first trip to Ukraine since the conflict erupted, Orbán had called on Zelensky to think about the possibility of “proclaiming a cease-fire and starting negotiations with Russia.” to which the Ukrainian premier replied that “a just peace is needed.” A peace that starts from an assumption reiterated by Charles Michel: “Russia is the aggressor, Ukraine is the victim.”
The EU rotating presidency has no mandate to engage with Russia on behalf of the EU.
The European Council is clear: Russia is the aggressor, Ukraine is the victim. No discussions about Ukraine can take place without Ukraine.
– Charles Michel (@CharlesMichel) July 4, 2024
English version by the Translation Service of Withub
