The President of the European Commission, Ursula von der Leyen, has decided that from now on the European Union institution will only be represented at director-general level at the informal ministerial meetings organised by the Presidency of the Council of the European Union, her spokesman Eric Mamer announced on Monday 15 July via X.
The College of commissioners won't meet the Hungarian government in Budapest either.
This decision does not concern the ‘Gymnich’ meeting of foreign affairs ministers in Budapest in late August, which the European Union is said to be considering boycotting following the anger over the Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán’s ‘peace mission’ to Russia (see EUROPE 13450/5). The head of European diplomacy, Josep Borrell, plans to prevent ministers from travelling to Hungary next month by calling another meeting at the same time in Brussels, according to several diplomats based in the EU capital, quoted by AFP.
Boycotting the ‘Gymnich’ meeting in Budapest would be one way of expressing disagreement with Hungary’s initiatives. If Josep Borrell were to call a meeting on the same date, “it would take the decision out of the hands of the ministers. It’s not a question of them taking the political decision not to go to Hungary”, one of the diplomats explained. (Original version in French by Lionel Changeur and Mathieu Bion)