PARIS, July 17. /TASS/. The criticism of Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban for his diplomatic visits to Russia and China to discuss an end to the conflict in Ukraine, set forth in a resolution proposed by members of the European Parliament, breaks the cohesion of Europeans, leader of the right-wing National Rally party and chairman of the Patriots for Europe group in the EP Jordan Bardella said.
"This resolution, which openly condemns Viktor Orban's diplomatic visits, weakens European unity. We cannot blame Hungary, which is a reliable NATO ally, for wanting to keep the path to negotiations open. [Ukrainian President Vladimir] Zelensky himself has stated his desire to invite the Russian leadership to a peace summit in November <...>. Will you condemn him too?" he said at a plenary session in Strasbourg.
Bardella criticized the proposal in the draft resolution to admit Ukraine to the EU, which, according to him, threatens the sustainability of the economies and agriculture of the organization's member states. He opposed the requirement to allocate 0.5% of GDP from each EU member state to Ukraine annually, noting that for France, this would equate to €7 billion.
The politician also disagreed with the supply of long-range weapons to Kiev and opposed the idea of Ukraine joining NATO, as this poses a threat of escalation of the conflict with the nuclear power. Meanwhile, he supported the supply of traditional arms and equipment to Ukraine, which would allow it to "hold the front line." According to him, France should play a leading role in creating a new defense architecture in eastern Europe.
EU institutions harshly criticized Orban for his visit to Russia, where he met with President Vladimir Putin on July 5, issuing statements that the Hungarian prime minister did not receive an EU mandate for the visit. The European Commission also announced its intention to nix the traditional visit of the College of European Commissioners to Budapest. Such visits usually take place at the beginning of the presidency. There have been a number of leaks in the European media that EU ambassadors may discuss possible retaliatory measures against Hungary, but they may run into difficulties here, as that would be an unprecedented move.
The Hungarian prime minister held talks with Zelensky in Kiev on July 2 as part of his 10-day peacekeeping mission. Three days later, he met with Russian President Vladimir Putin in Moscow. He then traveled to Beijing to meet with Chinese President Xi Jinping. From there, he headed to Washington, D.C., where he spoke with Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan on the sidelines of a NATO summit. Then he traveled to the state of Florida to visit former US President Donald Trump, with whom he also discussed ways to resolve the Ukrainian conflict.