Sweden and several other European Union countries will not send ministers to meetings organized by Hungary as part of its presidency of the EU Council in protest. This was stated by the Minister for European Affairs of the Swedish government, Jessica Roswall, Reuters reports , UNN reports.
Details
According to Rosvall, the decision was made in protest of Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban's talks with Vladimir Putin.
Hungary's actions during its presidency (in the EU Council - ed.) are harmful and should have consequences. Therefore, Sweden will not participate at the political level in the informal governmental meetings in July
She added that, in addition to Sweden, Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, Poland, and Finland have joined the boycott. At ministerial meetings, they will be represented at the level of civil servants, not ministers.
Roswall noted that other EU member states are also discussing similar actions.
Context
On July 2, Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban visited Kyiv to meet with President Volodymyr Zelenskyy. A few days later, the Hungarian prime minister paid an unannounced visit to Moscow, where he met with Russian leader Vladimir Putin.
In conclusion, Viktor Orban traveled to China. During his meeting with Orban, Chinese President Xi Jinping also spoke about "a quick ceasefire and political settlement" of the Russian-Ukrainian war.
Recall
Bloomberg, citing its own sources, said that Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban's visits to Moscow and Beijing to meet with Putin and Xi Jinping have irritated Western allies.