In a report to the President of the European Council, Charles Michel, published on Thursday 18 July, Hungarian Prime Minister, Viktor Orbán has proposed reopening direct communication channels with Russia.
In this report, which he describes as a summary evaluation of his recent discussions with the leaders of Ukraine, Russia, China, Turkey and former US President Donald Trump, and “a few suggestions for...consideration”, Mr Orbán proposes starting a discussion on reopening direct lines of diplomatic communication with Russia and the rehabilitation of such direct contacts in the EU’s political communication, while maintaining the current high-level political contacts with Ukraine.
The Prime Minister would also like to discuss the initiative to conduct high-level political talks with China on the modalities of the next peace conference, and the launch of a “coordinated political offensive” towards the global South “whose appreciation we have lost concerning our position on the war in Ukraine resulting in the global isolation of the transatlantic community”.
Mr Orbán explained that he had observed that “the warring parties are determined to involve themselves deeper into the conflict, and neither of them would like to make initiatives for a ceasefire or peace negotiations”. “Therefore we can assume that tensions will not decrease and the parties will not start searching for a way out of the conflict without significant external involvement”, he explains in his report.
In his view, there are three global players that are able to influence developments in the conflict: the EU, the United States and China. He added that Turkey, as an important regional player, should be seen as the only successful mediator between Ukraine and Russia since the outbreak of hostilities in 2022.
“Our European strategy in the name of transatlantic unity has copied the pro-war policy of the US. We have not had a sovereign and independent European strategy or political action plan up to now”, denounced the Prime Minister, arguing that it would be necessary to discuss whether the continuation of this policy would be rational in the future. “In the current situation we can find a window of opportunity with a strong moral and rational basis to begin a new chapter in our policy. In this new chapter we could make an effort to decrease tensions and/or create the conditions for a temporary ceasefire and/or start peace negotiations”, he stresses.
The Prime Minister hopes that his report would prove to be a useful contribution to possible proposals and initiatives that Mr Michel would present to EU leaders “at an appropriate occasion and in a convenient format”.
See the report: https://aeur.eu/f/d2y (Original version in French by Camille-Cerise Gessant)