EU member states to seek clarity on Hungary’s Russia, China shuttle diplomacy

After Hungary’s solo diplomatic outreach to Russia and China, EU member states this week are expected to seek more clarity about its results, with some keen to explore options on how to reign in what they see as Budapest’s ‘destructive behaviour’.

EU ambassadors are expected to discuss the role of the Hungarian EU presidency when they meet on Wednesday (10 July), following a specific request from Poland, according to sources familiar with the discussions.

Hungary is expected to elaborate on the outcome of its recent diplomatic visits to Ukraine, Russia and China, which Budapest had labelled a ‘peace mission’, in a ‘self-explanatory point’ of the meeting’s agenda.

The visits had taken place just days after Hungary had taken over the EU’s rotating presidency.

EU leaders and officials have in recent days been unanimous in condemning the surprise visit to Moscow, stressing that Budapest was not acting on behalf of the bloc as a whole.

“There are growing concerns in the capitals about the self-attributed role of Orbán in the so-called ‘peace mission’, where it should be clear he is only representing his own country,” said one EU diplomat.

According to several EU diplomats, Hungary has intentionally left a lot of ambiguity on the attribution of the visit, especially as it displays the logo of the presidency in their communications.

A second EU diplomat said “the skepticism of EU member states was unfortunately justified – it’s all about promoting Budapest’s interests.”

“Member states were already irritated anyway, given the ‘MEGA’ motto – and a meeting with [Russia’s President Vladimir] Putin, however, it does permanently overshadow the Hungarian presidency,” they added.

Orbán’s Moscow visit was aimed to merely ‘collect information’ about the possibility of a ceasefire, his chief foreign policy advisor told Euractiv.

Budapest understands that “we don’t have a European mandate on that, but we’re not asking anything from the Ukrainians or from the Russians,” he said.

“We will obviously report back to European capitals what we experienced,” he added.

This week’s debate among EU ambassadors will be their first opportunity to address this issue.

Though Wednesday would see a first discussion on the matter, more debates are likely to follow, especially in a meeting of EU foreign ministers later this month, said EU diplomats.

Back in May, EU member states for the first time had openly vented their anger with Hungary’s “pattern of behaviour”, of increasingly often blocking EU foreign policy decisions and preventing progress on crucial military aid to Ukraine.

Hungary has been blocking partial reimbursements for weapons earmarked for Ukraine under the EU’s off-budget European Peace Facility (EPF) for almost a year, the amount estimated at €6.5 billion – three reimbursement tranches and a new €5 billion Ukraine Assistance Fund (UAF).

“[With the visits], the tensions are high after only seven days of presidency, and expected to be even higher as we will approach the Foreign Affairs Council [that will discuss] the European Peace Facility, still blocked by Hungary, with the 26 other member states agreeing,” a third EU diplomat said.

Some EU diplomats have earlier said they see Budapest’s veto actions as a pattern of behaviour that might require a discussion about practical changes to the bloc’s decision-making processes.

Now after the Moscow visit, some have started going further in saying there a need to ‘reign in’ what they call  Hungary’s ‘destructive behaviour’.

The European Commission said on Friday (5 July) that Orbán’s Moscow visit would “seriously put into question” the EU executive’s presidency trip to Hungary. Where traditionally the whole College of Commissioners travel to the respective host country, which was expected to take place just after the summer break.

“The EU’s and member states’ communication has left not a slither of doubt where everyone stands on this whole issue,” a fourth diplomat said, adding that they, however, did “not expect anything we do or say to make an impression on Hungary to change tracks.”

When it comes to Hungary’s stint at the EU helm, the bloc’s officials and diplomats stress that with the transition to the next institutional term, there are close to no files left where Budapest could “leave a negative mark on.”

“For the rest, we need to make sure that nothing he does in Moscow [or elsewhere] stands for what we stand for,” a fifth EU diplomat said.

“The only thing we have are the instruments that we already use: Article 7 which is on the table and running, but will not have an impact quickly, the EU’s conditionality mechanism and Recovery and Resilience Facility (RRF) funds,” they added.

Legal experts and observers, meanwhile, are going even further, saying that Hungary’s actions could be seen as going against the EU’s treaties.

More precisely against Article 4, which states that EU member states “shall facilitate the achievement of the Union’s tasks and refrain from any measure which could jeopardise the attainment of the Union’s objectives.”

“The European Commission could take Hungary to the [Court of Justice of the European Union],” Pierre Haroche, Associate Research Fellow at the Delors Institute, suggested.

[Edited by Rajnish Singh]

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