Germany joins boycott of Council meetings in Hungary, not a single minister to be sent to Budapest

Germany will not send a single minister to Hungary in the coming months, this is how they will boycott the informal meetings of the Council of the EU, Euractiv has reported.

The paper contacted 15 German ministries to ask whether their federal ministers would attend upcoming meetings in Budapest, but received neither a clear confirmation nor a yes from any of them. Several ministries, including the justice and interior ministries, will have only one lower-ranking state secretary attending the meetings, while others said they do not plan to take part in ministerial meetings in the near future.

On Monday, Finance Minister Christian Lindner and Agriculture Minister Cem Özdemir announced they were considering canceling their planned visits to Hungary. Özdemir, a member of the Green Party, added that he would "very carefully consider" whether or not to travel to the meeting. On Monday, the European Commission also announced that no commissioners would attend informal meetings during the Hungarian EU presidency. A Commission spokesperson said that President Ursula von der Leyen had decided, in light of recent developments, that the Commission would only be represented at senior official level at informal Council meetings.

In the first week of the Hungarian EU presidency, the Hungarian Prime Minister visited Ukraine, Russia, the Nagorno-Karabakh summit of the Organization of Turkic States and China. At a press conference in Moscow, Vladimir Putin said that he believed Orbán was there on behalf of the EU presidency, a claim the Hungarian Prime Minister did not refute on the spot. What blew the fuse with many EU leaders and those of the member states was that Orbán failed to inform them in advance of his meetings with the Russian and Chinese presidents.

“With his unconsented trips, the Hungarian Prime Minister has caused great scepticism and irritation among the EU member states […] The German government is currently coordinating closely with EU partners on possible reactions, including the question of participation in informal Council meetings,”

German diplomats told Euractiv.

Earlier, Sweden, Finland, Poland and the three Baltic countries Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania had also announced that they would skip informal meetings during Hungary's six-month presidency.

The informal meetings of the Council are traditionally hosted by the country holding the rotating presidency, and the Hungarian government took over the baton on 1 July for a six-month term. There are no decisions taken at such meetings, so the boycott has no immediate practical effect, but is a warning signal at best. However, the Council may decide on a number of matters concerning Hungary, including its own presidency.