EC boycotting ministerial meetings over Orban’s behaviour

The European Commission has announced that, in light of developments since the start of the Hungarian presidency of the Council of the European Union, it plans to boycott informal ministerial meetings and send only senior officials to them instead of commissioners. The traditional visit by EU commissioners to the presidency country has reportedly also been cancelled. The daily Politico says member states are giving Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán the cold shoulder for his self-styled peace visits to Vladimir Putin and Xi Jinping, which he didn’t coordinate with other national leaders.

According to Politico, the boycott already started last week, with only seven ministers out of 27 attending Tuesday's meeting of ministers responsible for the internal market and industry in the Hungarian capital. The EU Commissioner for the Internal Market Thierry Breton was notably absent. Czechia was represented by David Müller, senior director of the foreign trade section of the ministry of industry.