MEPs call for Hungary's EU Presidency to be Postponed

MEPs have called on the Council of the EU to postpone Hungary's presidency of the Community, scheduled for the second half of 2024.

"The Council needs to understand what is happening, Hungary is no longer a democratic country. Prime Minister Orban lives with the idea that he can use the EU as a cash machine," emphasized Hungary's shadow rapporteur Theiss Reuten of the Progressive Alliance of Socialists and Democrats. He added that Orban's close relationship with Russian President Putin, as well as the country's veto on arming Ukraine, negatively affects the overall image of the EU:

"It would be a disaster if this country takes over the presidency and Orban does what he has already publicly announced - that he will try to impose his agenda, that is, on Hungary in the EU, which is clearly not the task of the rotating presidency country. So I think that we are long past the time for warnings and we are calling on the EU Council to act."

However, MEPs admitted that there are no clauses in the treaties that would allow such a decision to be made and stressed that the responsibility rests in the hands of the Council of the EU. Sophie in't Veld from "Renew Europe" stated that the European Parliament is not completely powerless in this regard and could, instead of Prime Minister Orban, give the floor to those who, in her words, are being silenced in Hungary.