Prime Minister Viktor Orban’s Ukraine “peace mission” has outraged the bloc’s leaders
Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan told media on Sunday that the European Union is seeking ways to remove Hungary from the bloc’s presidency due to Prime Minister Viktor Orban’s Ukraine “peace mission”.
Budapest currently holds the six-month rotating presidency of the Council of the European Union, the body that determines the bloc’s overall political direction and priorities.
Orban launched what he termed a Ukraine ‘peace mission’ earlier this month, aiming to resolve the conflict by holding talks with its “five main actors” – Ukraine, Russia, China, the EU, and the US. As part of this mission, he met with Russian President Vladimir Putin in Moscow, sparking outrage among EU leaders.
Erdogan recalled his own meeting with Orban on the sidelines of a NATO summit in Washington earlier this month. The Hungarian Prime Minister had shared his plans to also meet US Presidential hopeful Donald Trump, Erdogan said.
”The next day, they started to criticize Viktor Orban intensely. They said, “He said this, he said that, we do not agree with what Viktor said, what he said is not true.” Mr. Orban went to Moscow, as you know, and they criticized him. He went to China and criticized him in the same way,” Hürriyet newspaper quoted Erdogan as saying.
Last week, the European Parliament condemned Orban’s Moscow visit, characterizing it as “a blatant violation of the EU’s treaties and common foreign policy.” Newly re-elected European Commission president Ursula von der Leyen denounced Orban’s trip as an “appeasement mission.”
“Now they are calculating how to remove Hungary from the EU presidency,” the Turkish President claimed.
Moscow asserted last week that the EU’s criticism of Orban regarding his Ukraine peace initiative demonstrates Brussels’ commitment to militarily supporting Ukraine, and that its pro-war policies will not change.
During the Washington meeting, the Hungarian leader urged the Turkish President to join him in his efforts to find a peaceful solution to the Ukraine conflict. In his Sunday’s interview, Erdogan called for “patience” and expressed hope that “when the time comes, we will do what is necessary together.”