a meeting between Viktor Orban and Emmanuel Macron to try to defuse the coming crisis

No stranger to standoffs with Brussels, Viktor Orban has the possibility of blocking the decisions of the European Council, since the unanimity of the Twenty-Seven is required.

Published


Reading time: 1 min

French President Emmanuel Macron and Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban in Vilnius (Lithuania) on July 11, 2023. (LUDOVIC MARIN / POOL)

Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban will be received on Thursday December 7 in Paris by Emmanuel Macron, a meeting intended to find a compromise before the European summit on December 14 and 15. In a context of heightened tensions between Budapest and Brussels, the Hungarian leader threatens to sabotage the upcoming European Council.

Among the topics on the menu of this meeting are: “strands of European support for Ukraine” announced the Elysée on Tuesday December 5. The spokesperson for the head of the Hungarian government, Bertalan Havasi, also confirmed this visit to the private channel ATV, without providing further details.

The only European leader to have maintained close ties with the Kremlin after the Russian invasion launched in Ukraine, Viktor Orban called for the postponement of two key decisions for Ukraine, on budgetary support of 50 billion euros and the opening of negotiations for accession to the EU. Since unanimity of the Twenty-Seven is required, the Hungarian has the possibility of blocking the decisions of the European Council alone.


source site-33