EU’s Michel Blasts Orbán As Row Over Hungary’s Diplomatic Push on Ukraine Intensifies

European Council President Charles Michel issued a stinging reply to Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán on Tuesday (16 July) to “set the record straight” on his rogue diplomacy over Ukraine, as the EU’s boycott of meetings under the country’s EU presidency continues to widen.

Michel’s letter, seen by Euractiv, comes a day before EU ambassadors are expected to raise the issue informally on Wednesday (17 July) as part of preparations for next week’s meeting of EU foreign ministers.

It also comes after the European Commission said on Monday (15 July) that it would boycott informal ministerial meetings organised by the Hungarian EU presidency in response to the widely condemned solo diplomatic efforts.

The Council’s legal service told EU envoys last week that Budapest’s actions could constitute a breach of the bloc’s treaties.

So far, however, EU countries have failed to come up with concrete options for curbing Budapest’s actions beyond public displays of anger.

But most EU member states are now ready to join a boycott of the Hungarian EU presidency led by Eastern and Northern European member states, several EU diplomats told Euractiv.

Michel’s letter to Orbán

In his reply to Orbán on Tuesday, Michel said he had “taken note of your insights and suggestions” but wanted to “set the record straight” on five key points.

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“I cannot accept your claim that we have led a ‘pro-war policy,’” Michel wrote in the letter seen by Euractiv. “It is quite the opposite. Russia is the aggressor and Ukraine is the victim exercising its legitimate right to self-defense,” he added.

Slamming Budapest for its diplomatic solo runs regarding Ukraine, Michel said the EU’s rotating presidency has “no role in representing the Union on the international stage and received no European Council mandate to engage on behalf of the Union”.

“I made this clear even prior to your visit to Moscow and this was subsequently reiterated by High Representative Borrell in his statement of 5 July,” Michel wrote.

“We, the EU, reiterated our unwavering commitment to support Ukraine and its people for as long as it takes and as intensely as needed,” Michel wrote, stressing that the bloc’s position on Ukraine is agreed upon by consensus among all 27 EU member states.

The European Council president also stressed the EU’s key policy line that “no discussion about Ukraine can take place without Ukraine” and that the bloc has “spared no effort to reach out to all partners in this regard, including China.”

“Lastly, the most direct way to peace is for Russia to withdraw all of its forces from Ukraine and respect Ukraine’s territorial integrity and the UN Charter,” he concluded.

Michel said he had shared the letter with all EU member states and would inform his Ukrainian counterparts of the exchange of letters.

Orbán’s letter to Michel

Michel’s reply came after Orbán sent a letter to the European Council president, dated 12 July and also seen by Euractiv, in which he largely repeated Russian President Vladimir Putin’s maximalist demands on Ukraine.

The controversial letter, which raised eyebrows among EU leaders after Budapest’s solo diplomatic mission on Ukraine, was divided into 10 points but did not refer to Russia being the aggressor that launched the full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022.

In his letter, Orbán said that one of the conclusions of his self-declared ‘peace mission’ to Ukraine, Russia, China, Turkey and US presidential candidate Donald Trump was that the EU should seek to restore diplomatic relations with Russia.

“The chance for peace is diminished by the fact that diplomatic channels are blocked and there is no direct dialogue between the parties who have a leading role to play in creating the conditions for peace,” Orbán wrote in his correspondence with Michel.

Orbán also wrote that he believed a ceasefire and peace talks were still achievable but added that “in the next two months, we will see more dramatic losses and military developments on the frontlines than ever before” if the war did not stop immediately.

The Hungarian prime minister also stressed that Europe should take the lead in trying to negotiate peace between Russia and Ukraine, as the US becomes increasingly distracted as its presidential election approaches in November.

“Political leadership provided by the United States is limited, due to the ongoing election campaign,” Orbán wrote.

“Therefore we can expect no such proposal coming from the US in the coming months. We should consider — in the spirit of European strategic autonomy — launching a European initiative,” he added.

Other Hungarian proposals included a “political offensive” in the Global South and possible talks with China – which has put forward its own peace proposal for the war in Ukraine and snubbed a high-level peace conference in Switzerland in June – on a possible “peace conference” attended by both Russia and Ukraine.