The chairs of the parliamentary committees on European affairs of Lithuania and five other EU countries have sent a letter to Hungary to express their concern over the country’s Prime Minister Viktor Orbán.
“We are deeply concerned about the first three weeks of the Hungarian Presidency of the Council of the EU, as fundamental principles are disregarded,” reads the letter to Zoltán Tessely, chair of the Committee on European Affairs of the Hungarian National Assembly, signed by his counterparts from Germany, Finland, Lithuania, Latvia, Estonia, Luxembourg, and Finland.
The letter points out that the EU presidency’s role is to coordinate and mediate between European governments and their interests for the common good. Instead of building bridges, the Hungarian prime minister used the first days of the Hungarian presidency to provoke European partners by putting his own interests over a European consensus.
According to Žygimantas Pavilionis, the chair of the Lithuanian Seimas Committee on European Affairs, “in these turbulent times, when the axis of evil is actively trying to divide Europe, such behaviour by the Hungarian presidency is completely unacceptable”.
He said that “all other EU countries and institutions made this very clear to Budapest in this letter and in various other forms”.
Orbán’s visits to Moscow and Beijing in July provoked an outcry from EU institutions and leaders. President of the European Council Charles Michel has stressed that Orbán has no mandate to speak or negotiate with Russia on behalf of the EU.
The letter also notes that the presidency of the Council of the European Union has no official role in foreign policy as European foreign policy is jointly decided by the governments of member states. EU treaties are clear that the European Union is represented abroad by the president of the European Council and the foreign policy chief, according to the letter.
“The Hungarian prime minister is constantly weakening the position of the European Union and impeding peace for Ukraine. Publicly repeating the war objectives of the Russian president and calling it a ‘peace mission’ is an unacceptable support of the aggressor,” the letter reads.
It also states that the EU must be united against Russia and that the presidency of the Council of the European Union must be constructive and respectful of European treaties.
“You have our full support demanding the Hungarian government to act according to these basic principles,” the letter reads.
According to the Lithuanian Seimas’ statement, the position set out in the letter is also supported by the chair of the European Union Affairs Committee of the Polish Sejm.
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