{"id":376029,"date":"2024-07-05T13:37:22","date_gmt":"2024-07-05T11:37:22","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.eunews.it\/2024\/07\/05\/orban-putin-commissione-europea\/"},"modified":"2024-07-11T13:57:21","modified_gmt":"2024-07-11T11:57:21","slug":"orban-in-moscow-european-commissions-ire-eu-visit-to-hungary-in-doubt","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.eunews.it\/en\/2024\/07\/05\/orban-in-moscow-european-commissions-ire-eu-visit-to-hungary-in-doubt\/","title":{"rendered":"Orb\u00e1n in Moscow, European Commission’s fury: “EU visit to Hungary in doubt”"},"content":{"rendered":"

Brussels – The “peace mission” undertaken by Viktor Orb\u00e1n “undermines the unity” of the European Union<\/strong>. The Hungarian premier is in Moscow today (July 5) to discuss the situation in Ukraine with Russian President Vladimir Putin. A visit that embarrasses Brussels since it comes just five days after\u00a0the start of Hungary’s rotating Presidency of the EU Council. It\u00a0also “casts serious doubt on the traditional visit of the European Commission” to the country that holds the six-month leadership of the 27.<\/p>\n

While Orb\u00e1n is at\u00a0the Kremlin, protests from leaders are rising from the EU capital. The President of the European Council, Charles Michel<\/strong>, abruptly clarified as early as late yesterday<\/a> that Orb\u00e1n has no mandate from the EU. In the morning, the messages<\/a> of the High Representative for Foreign Affairs and President of the European Commission, Josep Borrell,<\/strong> clarified that the official position of the 27 on the conflict “excludes official contacts between the EU and Putin,” according to Ursula von der Leyen<\/strong> “appeasement will not stop Putin.”<\/p>\n

\"Orban<\/a>
Viktor Orban and\u00a0Vladimir Putin in Beijing, October 2023 (credits: Grigory Sysoyev \/ Pool \/ Afp)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

The European Commission’s line on the Budapest mission — only three days ago Orb\u00e1n went to Kyiv<\/a> to ask Zelensky\u00a0for a ceasefire — was clarified by chief spokesman Eric Mamer during the daily press briefing: “This is about appeasement and not peace<\/strong>, and we believe it undermines the unity and determination we must show to end this war,” he said, further clarifying that “We were not informed of the visit<\/strong>. It was not coordinated with us or with anyone else.” Just as Orb\u00e1n’s first outburst in\u00a0October 2023, when he met and shook hands with Putin during a trip to Beijing, had not been coordinated with his European counterparts.<\/p>\n

\u00a0The irritation is such that the Commission already foresees the first consequences: “This visit to Moscow seriously casts doubt on the traditional visit of the Presidency<\/strong> (of the Commission, editor’s note<\/em>) to Hungary, which we had planned immediately after the summer break,” Mamer announced. Indeed, it is an established practice for the President of the European Commission and the College of Commissioners to visit the country holding the rotating Presidency of the EU Council.<\/p>\n

\u00a0The spokesman for the EU executive pointed out that -even if Orb\u00e1n\u00a0noted that the rotating Presidency does not have a mandate to negotiate on behalf of the EU- “the symbolism is very clear,” because “this trip takes place five days after the start of the Hungarian presidency.” The Hungarian Premier, in a photo posted on his X account, accompanied by the caption “The peace mission continues, second stop: Moscow,” used the logo chosen by Budapest for the six-month EU presidency. Orb\u00e1n responded to the storm of criticism he received between yesterday and today in his own way, \u00a0by re-launching: “It\u00a0<\/strong>is not possible to find peace by sitting comfortably in an armchair in Brussels<\/strong>,” he attacked, “we cannot sit back and wait for the war to\u00a0end miraculously.”<\/span><\/p>\n

The “confusion” purposely sown by Orb\u00e1n, as denounced by Estonian Prime Minister – and candidate to replace Borrell as head of EU diplomacy – Kaja Kallas, is also evident in Putin’s statements upon the arrival of his longtime friend. “I understand that this time he has arrived not only as our partner,” noted Putin, who plans to show Orb\u00e1n the details of Moscow’s proposals for a peaceful settlement of the conflict in Ukraine. According to the Kremlin press office, the Russian president reportedly told Orb\u00e1n that he is “ready to discuss with you the nuances on this issue, and I expect you to make me aware of your position and that of the European partners<\/strong>.”<\/p>\n

\n

The #peace<\/a> mission continues. Second stop: #Moscow<\/a>. pic.twitter.com\/kPOkKBsJQm<\/a><\/p>\n

– Viktor Orb\u00e1n (@PM_ViktorOrban) July 5, 2024 <\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

On the subject of the “shameful” images of Orban from Puti, MEP Sandro Gozi<\/strong>, secretary general of the European Democratic Party and member of the Renew Europe presidency recalls that “with a resolution last April 24, the European Parliament had highlighted all the doubts and concerns about the real capacity of this rotating Council presidency to ensure the continuity of the EU agenda and to represent the Council<\/strong> in its relations with the EU institutions and other countries.” According to Gozi, “unfortunately, the Council made our call to move the Hungarian presidency fall on deaf ears. To be outraged today, therefore, by the leaders of the Council, is as hypocritical as ever: it would have been enough to listen to Parliament to avoid such a shameful image that throws discredit on all the European institutions.”<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The Hungarian Premier, Putin’s only ally among the 27, holds the rotating Presidency of the EU Council. But his visit “was not coordinated with anyone,” the European Commission spokesman clarifies. Von der Leyen: “Appeasement will not stop Putin.” Gozi: To be outraged today, by the leaders of the Council, is as hypocritical as ever<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":7527,"featured_media":344382,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"episode_type":"","audio_file":"","podmotor_file_id":"","podmotor_episode_id":"","cover_image":"","cover_image_id":"","duration":"","filesize":"","filesize_raw":"","date_recorded":"","explicit":"","block":"","jnews-multi-image_gallery":[],"jnews_single_post":{"source_name":"","source_url":"","via_name":"","via_url":"","override_template":"0","override":[{"template":"1","single_blog_custom":"","parallax":"1","fullscreen":"1","layout":"right-sidebar","sidebar":"default-sidebar","second_sidebar":"default-sidebar","sticky_sidebar":"1","share_position":"top","share_float_style":"share-monocrhome","show_share_counter":"0","show_view_counter":"0","show_featured":"1","show_post_meta":"1","show_post_author":"1","show_post_author_image":"1","show_post_date":"1","post_date_format":"default","post_date_format_custom":"Y\/m\/d","show_post_category":"1","show_post_reading_time":"0","post_reading_time_wpm":"300","post_calculate_word_method":"str_word_count","show_zoom_button":"0","zoom_button_out_step":"2","zoom_button_in_step":"3","show_post_tag":"1","show_prev_next_post":"1","show_popup_post":"1","number_popup_post":"1","show_author_box":"0","show_post_related":"1","show_inline_post_related":"0"}],"override_image_size":"0","image_override":[{"single_post_thumbnail_size":"crop-500","single_post_gallery_size":"crop-500"}],"trending_post":"0","trending_post_position":"meta","trending_post_label":"Trending","sponsored_post":"0","sponsored_post_label":"Sponsored by","sponsored_post_name":"","sponsored_post_url":"","sponsored_post_logo_enable":"0","sponsored_post_logo":"","sponsored_post_desc":"","disable_ad":"0"},"jnews_primary_category":{"id":"","hide":""},"jnews_override_counter":{"override_view_counter":"0","view_counter_number":"0","override_share_counter":"0","share_counter_number":"0","override_like_counter":"0","like_counter_number":"0","override_dislike_counter":"0","dislike_counter_number":"0"},"footnotes":""},"categories":[25707],"tags":[26458,25835,25871,27219,25789],"class_list":["post-376029","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-world-politics","tag-viktor-orban-en","tag-sandro-gozi-en-2","tag-ukrainian-en-2"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.eunews.it\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/376029","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.eunews.it\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.eunews.it\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.eunews.it\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/7527"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.eunews.it\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=376029"}],"version-history":[{"count":7,"href":"https:\/\/www.eunews.it\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/376029\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":376984,"href":"https:\/\/www.eunews.it\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/376029\/revisions\/376984"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.eunews.it\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/344382"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.eunews.it\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=376029"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.eunews.it\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=376029"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.eunews.it\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=376029"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}