European Council (EC) President Charles Michel will cut short his visit to Beijing and return to Brussels in the wake of Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán’s recent threat to derail a summit of European Union (EU) leaders at the end of the year, reports Politico.
In a letter dated the 4th of December and obtained by Politico, Viktor Orbán has called on EC President Michel to exclude accession negotiations with Ukraine from the agenda of the upcoming EC summit. Orbán “respectfully urged” Michel not to put these issues on the table for a decision in December, citing
“the obvious lack of consensus which would inevitably lead to failure”.
An official told Politico that Michel, who is heading to the first face-to-face EU-China summit since 2019, will return to Brussels sooner than expected to tackle EU issues in the face of threats from Hungary, partly because he has no secure phone line in Beijing to speak to EU leaders without China listening, the official said.
Another official told Politico that French President Emmanuel Macron has invited the Hungarian prime minister to a meeting in Paris later this week to try to find a compromise.
EC President Charles Michel stressed the importance of “EU unity” as the EU’s key strength after meeting Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán in Budapest to defuse tensions ahead of a summit of EU leaders.
Read also: Hungary calls for a review of EU policy towards Ukraine
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