Hungary’s Orban faces criticism over his rogue ‘holiday venture’ conferences with Western opponents

BUDAPEST, Hungary (AP) — Hungary’s top minister, Viktor Orban, has Trumpian pledge To “Make Europe Great Again” during his country’s six-month presidency of the ECU union. As a first step in the final step, he surprised his colleagues by making a surprise visit to Ukraine – his first since Moscow invaded the country – followed by similarly unannounced visits to Russia and China for talks with both Were done. The EU’s number one rival.

Who is the longest serving head of the European Union? gave advice Former President Donald Trump and he is best known within the bloc as family members along with Vladimir Putin – who attended the NATO summit in Washington on Thursday ahead of a visit to Trump’s Mar-a-Lago compound – the one who Yells at the fact that their actual cancellation of the “peace mission” is ultimately aimed at brokering Russia’s conflict in Ukraine,

Orbán shared a photo of himself and Trump on social media and wrote, “We discussed ways to make peace. Good news of the day: He’s going to solve it!”

Online on his personal social media website, Trump posted: “Thank you Victor. There must be peace, and quickly.”

Although Orban’s conversation with putin The deadline in Moscow, the first such meeting by any EU leader since 2022, and his meeting with Xi Jinping in Beijing have angered the bloc’s leaders and Hungary over the next six months of its EU Efforts have been started to include. Presidency.

Swedish top minister Ulf Christerson told Newshound, “As president, one must act as an honest broker and not give the impression that you are speaking for other countries.” NATO height on Thursday. “(Orbán) is actually abusing the EU presidency and hijacking it for his own personal purposes.”

Peter Cracow, an analyst at the Budapest-based think tank Political Capital, said Hungary’s rotating government has so far been an exercise in “troll diplomacy”, and that Oban’s self-proclaimed “peace mission” will only alienate him from his position. A large number of Western allies view him as running counter to the interests of the EU and NATO and undermining their efforts to help Ukraine.

“He is marginalizing himself more and more in EU politics and this is a foreign policy of self-destruction,” Craco said.

He said: “Orbán could use the opportunity of the rotating presidency to get a little closer to the European mainstream and hold high-level meetings in Budapest that could bring him some recognition at a period where he desperately needs it. Instead, he moved further away from the mainstream.

Orbán has long confused his Western allies by pursuing Warming of relations with PutinA relationship that became more worrying when Moscow announced a full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022. advocated for Chinese language investment And to date with a more China-friendly economic policy, most EU countries want to limit Beijing’s influence.

His latest meetings with Putin, Xi and Trump, which he did not announce to any of his EU partners, drew significant reaction from EU capitals and some governments boycotted participation in a series of subsequent impromptu meetings in Budapest. Considered doing or banning it. Homologous to the rotating presidency.

An EU diplomat, who asked to remain anonymous due to the extremely sensitive political factor, said today that Orban’s move to assume the Hungarian presidency so early is heartless and that “tensions are high” and “are bound to get even higher.” Hopefully” as those conventions imply.

“There is growing concern in capitals about Mr Orbán’s self-awarded role in so-called ‘peacekeeping missions,’ where it should be clear that he is only representing his country,” the diplomat said. “Instead, they have deliberately left a lot of ambiguity.”

On Wednesday, Hungary’s EU Affairs Minister János Bocca rejected reports that some countries would boycott the conferences in Budapest in protest at Orbán’s talks with Putin, saying he would weaken Hungary’s role in the presidency. Were unaware of “any official initiative” to do so.

However, on Thursday, Kristersson, the prime minister of newest NATO member Sweden, noted that his country’s ministers with Finland and the Baltic countries “will not participate in informal meetings during the summer.”

This reaction reflects a growing reluctance within the EU and NATO to oppose Orbán’s advances. he has Mechanically functioned as a spoiler The EU has supported Kiev in its efforts to impose sanctions on Moscow over its war in Ukraine, and has long argued for a direct cessation of hostilities with its allies, without saying whether this would threaten Ukraine’s territorial integrity or Can be heartless to protect time. ,

EU has Withheld more than $20 billion in Budapest’s finances over allegations that Hungary violated the bloc’s requirements on independence, rule of law and corruption.

Analyst Craco noted that Orbán’s latest undisclosed meetings with opponents from the West show that he has “lost his ambition to look like a loyal ally, and he is more and more openly seeking a destructive solution within the EU and NATO.” Have become power.”

His meeting with Trump, a NATO critic, is another sign of Orbán’s “troll diplomacy,” Craco said.

On Thursday, White House national security assistant Jake Sullivan expressed concern that the Trump-Orban meeting is contrary to Ukraine’s interests, saying, “The US position – the Biden administration’s position – is to say nothing about Ukraine without Ukraine. Is.”

“Any audacity that is being carried out without Ukraine’s consent or support is not consistent with our policy,” Sullivan told Newshounds.

Orbán has indicated that his disruptive international coverage – a thing he has described as “a bit under the nail, a needle in the wheel” – arises from Hungary’s small political, financial and military weight on the world stage. .

“If a country with a relative advantage wants to pursue an independent foreign policy, that country will have to take a radical stance,” he said in a statement in December.

Although Orbán’s latest provocative meetings are “a huge demonstration that he is an autonomous foreign policy actor,” Cracow said, he added that Orban also no longer believes “Hungary will change the course of enormous geopolitical affairs on the planet.” ”

“This is about this selfish game of increasing one’s weight and political position in the eyes of the Hungarian public and the global public,” Cracco said.

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The cooking of dinner was reported from Brussels. AP editor Jan M. Olsen in Copenhagen, Denmark contributed to this document.