The European Commission and a large number of EU countries will not send Commissioners and ministers to informal EU meetings in Hungary in the coming six months, in protest against Hungarian Prime Minister Orbán's 'mediation visit' to Moscow.
With this boycott, Brussels wants to prevent Orbán from further abusing his temporary EU presidency. Other EU countries are not (yet?) joining a boycott, but will consider their delegation to Budapest on a case-by-case basis.
The first calls for a boycott came from a group of MEPs who called on the European Union to strip Hungary of its voting rights in the EU Council. The call was made in response to Orbán's meeting with Putin and his continued criticism of the EU's support for Ukraine.
Several senior EU officials have supported this call and indicated that they will not participate in ministerial meetings organized under the Hungarian presidency. This means that from now on many meetings may take place without the presence of prominent EU officials.
A major concern is the planned summit in Budapest, where foreign ministers from the EU would meet at the end of this month. Several member states have already indicated that they will boycott this summit. The European Commission has also stated that none of its commissioners will participate in events organized by the Hungarian government.
Tensions between Hungary and the rest of the EU are not new. Hungary has previously been criticized for its domestic policies, including issues related to the rule of law, press freedom and human rights.
Analysts point out that the boycott of the meetings in Hungary could seriously hamper the effectiveness of the Hungarian presidency. Without the participation of key EU officials, important decisions may be delayed or more difficult to reach. The Hungarian government has responded by emphasizing that the country will properly fulfill its role as chairman, despite the boycott.
Orbán has previously criticized what he sees as the EU's meddling in Hungary's internal affairs and continues to insist that his meeting with Putin was in Hungary's national interest.