Von der Leyen at odds with Orban, Commission visit to Budapest canceled

Brussels – Support for Ukraine ‘as long as it takes‘ is non-negotiable for the European Commission. Bearing the brunt is Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán, who, since being the head of the EU Council for the next six months, has embarked on a personal peace mission, meeting first Zelensky, followed by Putin, Xi Jinping, and Donald Trump. And embarrassing Brussels. So much so that the EU executive has announced that the College of Commissioners will not travel to Hungary for the traditional visit to the rotating Presidency, scheduled for late summer.

In addition, Ursula von der Leyen decided to boycott informal EU Council meetings until they are hosted by Orbán government ministers “in light of recent developments marking the beginning of the Hungarian presidency.” Commissioners will attend only formal Councils – where decisions are made at the legislative level – in Brussels and Luxembourg. Only the most senior Commission officials will go to the informal meetings.

European Commission chief spokesman Eric Mamer made the announcement. The case erupted on July 5, when the Hungarian Prime Minister caught the other EU 26 by surprise by going to Moscow for a bilateral meeting with Vladimir Putin to discuss the Kremlin’s conditions for ending the conflict in Ukraine. All while maintaining – consciously or unconsciously – a certain ambiguity about his role at the head of the 27 member states. The three EU heavyweights, Charles Michel, Ursula von der Leyen, and High Representative Josep Borrell, immediately clarified that Brussels had given no mandate to Orbán to negotiate with Moscow.

Several heads of state and government of the 27 had also hinted at some irritation at Orbán’s flight forward. However, von der Leyen did not coordinate her decision today with the European chancelleries: “An institutional prerogative of the Commission,” Mamer clarified. Just today, in an interview with Hungarian news outlet Magyar Nemzet, Budapest spokesman Balazs Orban said he was “convinced that the entire period of our country’s EU presidency should be used, in political terms, to create the conditions for peace negotiations.” Relaunching on new “trips and negotiations to be made.”

Brussels maintains that there can be no peace talks in Ukraine without Ukraine. Borrell reiterated at the NATO summit in Washington last week, “There is no peace plan other than Zelensky’s. The whole EU supports this position.” The pro-Russian Orbán, who has been the voice out of the chorus since the beginning of Russian aggression and systematically blocks aid packages to Kyiv, thinks differently. There have already been several calls in Brussels to take the rotating Presidency away from Hungary. The European Parliament already asked for this, while the Renew Group repeated the call a few days ago, and the rumors have become so persistent that a few days ago, Budapest’s Minister of European Affairs, Janos Boka, called a press conference in Brussels to deny the rumors. For now, the possibility does not seem to be on the table,  but the diplomatic snub decided today by the European Commission may be an early warning.

In light of recent developments marking the start of the Hungarian Presidency, the President has decided that @EU_Commission will be represented at senior civil servant level only during informal meetings of the Council.

The College visit to the Presidency will not take place.

— Eric Mamer (@MamerEric) July 15, 2024