Hungary’s presidency of the Council of the EU will have to wait until later this year before Prime Minister Viktor Orbán presents his agenda for the European Parliament under the slogan “Make Europe Great Again”.
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Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán wanted to address MEPs at the new parliament’s first session in Strasbourg but was turned down by parliamentary leaders who could not find room for him on the agenda, two sources familiar with the matter told Euronews.
By long-standing tradition, when a head of state takes over the presidency of the Council of the EU he or she is given the opportunity to address Parliament, set out an agenda for the six months in which they will lead intergovernmental policy negotiations and answer questions from MEPs.
Sources said Orbán had indicated to parliament that he might attend a plenary session next Tuesday or Wednesday (16 or 17 July) to present the agenda for the Hungarian presidency, which Budapest has put “Making Europe Great Again” on its presidency agenda.
But the Council of Presidents, the head of the agenda-setting political group, said there was no room in the parliament’s schedule at the time, both sources agreed.
The first source told Euronews that Parliament’s work was busier than usual and criticised the Council for not following Parliament’s advice on the timing of the European elections.
“Five years ago, in 2019, we were able to get Finland’s next presidency at the last general assembly in the summer because the elections were held in May and we were able to hold two general assembly meetings by the summer,” the source said. “We had warned that if the elections were held in June, it would affect the schedule.”
The first source added that the new parliament would need to be constituted by electing a president and 14 vice presidents, for which dates on Tuesday and Wednesday needed to be set aside.
Thursday sees a confirmation vote on Ursula von der Leyen’s reappointment as European Commission president, something that was theoretically possible on Friday but not possible for Orban, according to first sources.
The agenda for next week’s plenary session will be finalised at a meeting of party representatives this Thursday (11 July). “There may be last-minute adjustments,” the first source added.
However, the spokesman confirmed that the July plenary session had been reserved “for the composition of Parliament and the election of the President of the European Commission (pending approval by the Presidents’ Meeting on Thursday).”
The Hungarian presidency is therefore unlikely to present a programme to MEPs before September, a spokesman told Euronews.
Orban describes himself as the only EU leader who is friendly with the world’s two biggest authoritarian regimes and recently made a surprise visit to Russia and China to negotiate peace in Ukraine after meeting with the Ukrainian president in Kiev.
He is due to visit the United States tomorrow to attend a summit marking NATO’s 75th anniversary.
Orban’s visit to Moscow drew condemnation from leaders of Ukraine and other European countries, but the Hungarian prime minister justified the trip as a public relations stunt.
“The number of countries that can talk to both sides in a war is decreasing,” he said. “Hungary is slowly becoming the only country in Europe that can talk to everyone.”
A Hungarian government spokesman did not respond to a request for comment.
