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Can Hungary be stripped of the Presidency of the Council of the EU?

2024-07-15 10:02:00, Kosova & Bota CNA
Can Hungary be stripped of the Presidency of the Council of the EU?
Viktor Orban

Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban, the country's next president, is angering the EU with world travel tours. But can the EU presidency be taken from Hungary?

The EU has never seen a presidency like this before

Already the MEPs feel confirmed in their view. "The presidency of the Council should be taken away from Viktor Orbán. In fact, he shouldn't have got it in the first place," said European Parliament member Daniel Freund of the Greens, one of Orbán's fiercest critics. A presidency like this, the EU has not seen before, says Freund. A country that the EU has frozen a large part of its funds for "numerous violations of the rule of law and corruption" should not speak for the entire EU and "certainly should not appear this way in Moscow and Beijing ", he emphasizes.

Two models against Orban

There would be two ways to correct this mistake: the EU could introduce criteria that a country must fulfill to take the presidency of the Council. Part of these criteria may be that a country against which fundamental value infringement proceedings are ongoing and which the EU Commission withholds funds for violations of the rule of law may not take the presidency. This is an idea circulating these days in Brussels.

The EU has never seen a presidency like this before

Already the MEPs feel confirmed in their view. "The presidency of the Council should be taken away from Viktor Orbán. In fact, he shouldn't have got it in the first place," said European Parliament member Daniel Freund of the Greens, one of Orbán's fiercest critics. A presidency like this, the EU has not seen before, says Freund. A country that the EU has frozen a large part of its funds for "numerous violations of the rule of law and corruption" should not speak for the entire EU and "certainly should not appear this way in Moscow and Beijing ", he emphasizes.

Two models against Orban

There would be two ways to correct this mistake: the EU could introduce criteria that a country must fulfill to take the presidency of the Council. Part of these criteria may be that a country against which fundamental value infringement proceedings are ongoing and which the EU Commission withholds funds for violations of the rule of law may not take the presidency. This is an idea circulating these days in Brussels.

First measures against Orban

However, many EU diplomats are skeptical and EU governments appear to be shying away from withdrawing the presidency. At their last meeting, EU ambassadors openly expressed their anger towards Orban. But a "withdrawal" of the EU presidency was not on the agenda and will not be an issue in the future," explained the Hungarian Minister for Europe, Janos Boka. However, some countries have taken demonstrative measures. Lithuania announced that it will not send "temporarily" its ministers to meetings held in Hungary, but this applies to informal meetings. Instead of ministers, Sweden also announced that it would not send ministers to Budapest and other EU governments want to follow suit, but have yet to give details. /DW





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