The News
EU foreign and defense ministers will meet in Brussels — and not Budapest — next month over Hungary’s stance on the Ukraine war.
Hungary on July 1 assumed the rotating presidency of the Council of the European Union, which generally means it would host informal meetings with fellow EU foreign and defense ministers to discuss the biggest issues facing the bloc.
The next meetings are planned for August 28 to 30 — and Hungary will not host, EU officials said.
The bloc’s foreign policy chief Josep Borrell said on Tuesday that “we have to send a signal, even if it is a symbolic signal.” The decision came after Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán met with Russian President Vladamir Putin earlier this month to discuss Ukraine without the EU’s blessing.
Budapest called the move “completely childish,” the BBC reported.
Orbán remains Putin’s closest European ally. He has described the EU’s stance on Ukraine as “pro-war” and has delayed efforts to fund the country’s defense against Russia.