Can humiliation take the place of diplomacy, especially between Member States? By announcing a boycott of the Hungarian presidency of the European Union following Prime Minister Viktor Orban’s solo peace mission to Kiev, Moscow and Beijing, Ursula von der Leyen risks producing the opposite of the desired effect. and strengthen the nationalists of the continent.
Even if it means portraying them, in passing, as the only supporters of a negotiated solution between Ukraine and Russia, while the Hungarian leader presented a peace plan at the end of his tour which also included a meeting with Donald Trump in his Mar-a-Lago residence.
In this regard, the concomitant proposal from Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky to sit down at the negotiating table with Russia, for the first time since March 2022, undoubtedly owes nothing to chance, even though Ukraine is failing to to regain ground against Moscow’s troops and that military and financial aid from the United States, already greatly weakened, is likely to dry up if Donald Trump is elected president in November.
Brussels facing its contradictions
“If Europe wants peace and wants to have a say in resolving the war and ending the bloodshed, then the change of course must be developed and implemented now,” Balazs said Orban, the Hungarian Prime Minister’s closest advisor.
Thus, “in light of recent developments marking the start of the Hungarian presidency”, the President of the European Commission – who is aiming for re-election this Thursday in Parliament – has decided to send only senior officials instead of a commissioner during the informal summits organized in Hungary.
Consequently, for the first time in the history of the Union, the traditional visit of the College of Commissioners at the start of each rotating presidency will not take place. “The Commission cannot select the institutions and member states with which it wishes to cooperate,” replied Janos Boka, the Hungarian Minister of European Affairs. Are all Commission decisions now based on political considerations? »
The head of European diplomacy, Josep Borrell, had already initiated a skirmish with the Hungarian national conservative, considering that Viktor Orban’s trips were “bilateral” initiatives which could not commit the European Union. According to the EU High Representative for Foreign Affairs, who had already had disagreements with Ursula von der Leyen on this issue, diplomacy is his strict responsibility.
Will the EU manage to shorten the Hungarian presidency supposed to last six months in order to accelerate the arrival of the Pole Donald Tusk, more committed to the issues of over-armament and a confrontation with Russia? The treaties do not provide for this possibility. The affair – unprecedented – above all places Brussels face to face with its own failings and its lack of strategic autonomy.
This article is originally published on humanite.fr
