BRUSSELS, July 16. /TASS/. A group of 63 European Parliament members has called for Hungary to be stripped of its voting rights in the EU Council, where it currently holds the presidency, over Prime Minister Viktor Orban's peace initiatives, the European Politico edition reported.
The newspaper cites a message addressed to European Commission chief Ursula von der Leyen, European Council President Charles Michel and European Parliament chief Roberta Metsola, which says that Orban "has already caused significant damage by exploiting and abusing the role of the Council Presidency."
"This requires real actions, such as suspending Hungary’s voting rights in the Council, since practice has shown that mere verbal condemnations of this situation have no effect," Politico quoted the letter as saying.
Brussels' wrath
On Monday, European Commission chief Ursula von der Leyen canceled the EC board's visit to Hungary and lowered the level of representation at informal EU Council meetings under the Hungarian presidency. This decision is unprecedented in the EU's history.
Earlier it was reported that EU diplomatic chief Josep Borrell, who is Von der Leyen's direct subordinate, intended to convene an unscheduled meeting of foreign ministers in Brussels in August on the same day that Hungary intended to convene an informal meeting of EU foreign ministers in Budapest, effectively forcing Prime Minister Viktor Orban to move it to Brussels' European Quarter.
Orban’s mission
Orban's trip to Kiev, Moscow, Beijing and Washington from July 2 to 11 kicked off the day after the Hungarian presidency of the EU Council began. Discussing potential peace initiatives without the European Commission's involvement and even without Brussels' authorization caused an outcry of indignation in the EU leadership. They saw Hungary's actions as undermining European unity and the European Commission's policy of supporting Ukraine.
The European Commission and the European Council, even before Orban's visit to Russia began, rushed to circulate statements that Orban has no EU mandate to negotiate with Russia.
The European Parliament was the first to impose departmental sanctions against Hungary when it announced that, contrary to tradition, Orban, as prime minister of the EU presidency, would not be invited to the first session of the European Parliament in Strasbourg on July 16-19.