The European Union\u2019s next meetings of foreign and defense ministers scheduled in August will be moved from Budapest to Brussels, the bloc\u2019s top diplomat announced Monday, in the latest escalation of a spat between the union and Hungary over its prime minister\u2019s stance on the war in Ukraine. <\/p>\n
Hungary\u2019s far-right Prime Minister Viktor Orb\u00e1n has ruffled feathers among EU leaders by claiming recently that the union has a \u201cpro-war policy.\u201d <\/p>\n
Borrell responded to Orban\u2019s comment during a press conference in Brussels, saying, \u201cI understood that we have to send a signal, even if it is a symbolic signal, that being against the foreign policy of the European Union and disqualifying the policy of the European Union as the \u2018party of war\u2019 has to have some consequences.\u201d <\/p>\n
\u201cWe analyzed the statements and the actions implemented\u201d by the Hungarian prime minister and foreign minister, the chief diplomat of the EU said. \u201cI can say that all member states, with one single exception, were very much critical about this behavior,\u201d he added. <\/p>\n
\u201cEuropean Union policy is not a pro-war policy. We strongly rejected that,\u201d Borrel said, adding, \u201cthe only one who is pro-war is Putin.\u201d <\/p>\n
The informal EU Council meetings of foreign and defense ministers were due to take place in Budapest from August 28 to 30, according to the EU council website, with Hungary currently holding the rotating European Union presidency. <\/p>\n
Borrell\u2019s decision comes after European Council President Charles Michel firmly hit back at Orb\u00e1n\u2019s claim that the EU has led a \u201cpro-war policy\u201d in a letter published last week. <\/p>\n
\u201cRussia is the aggressor and Ukraine is the victim exercising its legitimate right to self-defense. Russia is leading a war of aggression in blatant violation of international law, Ukraine\u2019s territorial integrity and sovereignty in accordance with the UN Charter,\u201d Michel wrote. <\/p>\n
Orb\u00e1n further upset EU lawmakers with his recent so-called \u201cpeace missions\u201d at the beginning of July \u2013 meeting Russian President Vladimir Putin in Moscow, Chinese leader Xi Jinping in Beijing, and most recently former US President Donald Trump at his Mar-a-Lago residence in Florida. <\/p>\n
The authoritarian Hungarian leader has sought to cast himself as a peacemaker in the Ukraine conflict, but his stance is at odds with most EU leaders, who have pledged unequivocal support for Ukraine as it attempts to repel Russia\u2019s military effort. <\/p>\n
In his letter to those leaders, Orban said that during the meetings there was a \u201cgeneral observation\u201d that \u201cthe intensity of the military conflict\u201d in Ukraine \u201cwill radically escalate in the near future.\u201d <\/p>\n
A letter signed by over 63 European lawmakers, addressed to the three EU chiefs, said Orban had \u201ccaused significant damage\u201d through his meetings. They called on the bloc\u2019s leaders to suspend Hungary\u2019s voting rights in the European Council, arguing that \u201cmere verbal condemnation\u201d of Hungary has \u201cno effect.\u201d <\/p>\n
With additional reporting from Niamh Kennedy, James Frater, Amy Cassidy and Jennifer Hansler<\/em> <\/p>\n<\/p>\n <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" The European Union\u2019s next meetings of foreign and defense ministers scheduled in August will be moved from Budapest to Brussels, the bloc\u2019s top diplomat announced Monday, in the latest escalation of a spat between the union and Hungary over its prime minister\u2019s stance on the war in Ukraine. Hungary\u2019s far-right Prime Minister Viktor Orb\u00e1n has <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":5332,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[23],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-5331","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-world-news"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/digitaltradecenter.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5331","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/digitaltradecenter.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/digitaltradecenter.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/digitaltradecenter.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/digitaltradecenter.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=5331"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/digitaltradecenter.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5331\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/digitaltradecenter.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/5332"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/digitaltradecenter.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=5331"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/digitaltradecenter.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=5331"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/digitaltradecenter.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=5331"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}