Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán met Vladimir Putin in Moscow on Friday in an unannounced move that provoked an angry response from senior EU officials.
The surprise visit came just days after Hungary assumed the revolving six-month presidency of the EU Council on July 1. A day later, Orbán visited Kyiv and proposed a ceasefire to Ukraine’s president, Volodymyr Zelenskyy.
Despite his country’s temporary position, senior EU diplomats were keen to emphasize Orbán did not speak for the 27-nation bloc, with its chief diplomat, Josep Borrell, saying in a statement that Orbán had "not received any mandate from the EU Council to visit Moscow" to represent Brussels. He further highlighted that the EU’s official position "excludes official contacts between the EU and President Putin."
“The Hungarian Prime Minister is thus not representing the EU in any form,” the statement continued, going on to point out that the Russian president “has been indicted by the International Criminal Court and an arrest warrant released for his role in relation to the forced deportation of children from Ukraine to Russia.”
The head of the Council, Charles Michel, echoed Borrell’s words that Orbán had “no mandate” to negotiate on behalf of the European Union.
Member state backlash
Member state leaders lined up behind the senior officials to lambast the meeting.
“The rumors about your visit to Moscow cannot be true PM Orbán, or can they?” Poland’s prime minister, Donald Tusk, tweeted before the Kremlin meeting, following up later by quoting Orbán: “‘We will serve as an important tool in making the first step towards peace.’”
“The question is in whose hands this tool is,” Tusk tweeted.
“The EU's position is very clear: we condemn the Russian war of aggression. Ukraine can count on our support,” Scholz added.
Lithuanian President Gitanas Nausėda took to the X platform to tell the Hungarian prime minister his visit undermined Budapest’s presidency of the Council and that “if you truly seek peace, you don't shake hands with a bloody dictator, you put all your efforts to support Ukraine.”
“The number of countries that can talk to both warring sides is diminishing,” Orbán said. “Hungary is slowly becoming the only country in Europe that can speak to everyone.”
Hungarian officials told the Euronews website that Budapest’s policy on Ukraine is that there is no military solution to the impasse on the battlefield and that both parties need to negotiate a settlement.
Orbán’s visit to Moscow came in the run-up to a two-day NATO summit in Washington that starts on Tuesday.
Despite his country’s temporary position, senior EU diplomats were keen to emphasize Orbán did not speak for the 27-nation bloc, with its chief diplomat, Josep Borrell, saying in a statement that Orbán had "not received any mandate from the EU Council to visit Moscow" to represent Brussels. He further highlighted that the EU’s official position "excludes official contacts between the EU and President Putin."
“The Hungarian Prime Minister is thus not representing the EU in any form,” the statement continued, going on to point out that the Russian president “has been indicted by the International Criminal Court and an arrest warrant released for his role in relation to the forced deportation of children from Ukraine to Russia.”
The head of the Council, Charles Michel, echoed Borrell’s words that Orbán had “no mandate” to negotiate on behalf of the European Union.
Member state backlash
Member state leaders lined up behind the senior officials to lambast the meeting.
“The rumors about your visit to Moscow cannot be true PM Orbán, or can they?” Poland’s prime minister, Donald Tusk, tweeted before the Kremlin meeting, following up later by quoting Orbán: “‘We will serve as an important tool in making the first step towards peace.’”
“The question is in whose hands this tool is,” Tusk tweeted.
Germany’s chancellor, Olaf Scholz, also weighed in saying “the European Council is represented in foreign policy by Charles Michel.”PM Orbán on his way to Moscow: “We will serve as an important tool in making the first step towards peace”. The question is in whose hands this tool is.
— Donald Tusk (@donaldtusk) July 5, 2024
“The EU's position is very clear: we condemn the Russian war of aggression. Ukraine can count on our support,” Scholz added.
Lithuanian President Gitanas Nausėda took to the X platform to tell the Hungarian prime minister his visit undermined Budapest’s presidency of the Council and that “if you truly seek peace, you don't shake hands with a bloody dictator, you put all your efforts to support Ukraine.”
Meanwhile, Orbán defended his initiative telling a press conference with Putin that Hungary sees its six-month presidency role as a “peace mission” and that Hungary is in a unique position to broker that peace.The unilateral decision by @PM_ViktorOrban to go to Moscow doesn't in any shape or form represent the #EU position. It also undermines the credibility of @HU24EU.
— Gitanas Nausėda (@GitanasNauseda) July 5, 2024
If you truly seek peace, you don't shake hands with a bloody dictator, you put all your efforts to support #Ukraine.
“The number of countries that can talk to both warring sides is diminishing,” Orbán said. “Hungary is slowly becoming the only country in Europe that can speak to everyone.”
Hungarian officials told the Euronews website that Budapest’s policy on Ukraine is that there is no military solution to the impasse on the battlefield and that both parties need to negotiate a settlement.
Orbán’s visit to Moscow came in the run-up to a two-day NATO summit in Washington that starts on Tuesday.
Source: Reuters, Euronews
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