Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán will not participate in the informal meeting of the Council of the European Union next week. This was confirmed by official EU sources for Politico magazine, reports TASR correspondent in Budapest. The ruling Fidesz party suffered a crushing defeat in Sunday’s parliamentary elections, which will end Orbán’s 16 years as prime minister. It will be there for about another month.
He was originally scheduled to attend a two-day summit scheduled for April 23-24 where EU leaders will discuss the crisis in the Middle East and the Union’s next seven-year budget, but he will skip the summit, according to the magazine’s source. Based on the rules of the Council, Orbán will be represented at the meeting by the leader of another member state. This role will probably be taken over by his ally, Slovak Prime Minister Robert Fico, writes Politico.
The Hungarian prime minister often uses his veto power to block sanctions against Russia and EU aid to Ukraine. At an EU summit last month, European Council President António Costa said Orbán’s behavior amounted to “blackmail” and was “completely unacceptable”. The Hungarian government did not respond to the magazine’s request for comment.
