BRUSSELS (Reuters) – The EU Commission will not send specialist commissioners to informal meetings organised by the Hungarian EU presidency, a spokesperson said on Monday on social media platform X.
The move comes after Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban met with U.S. presidential candidate Donald Trump last week and earlier made recent surprise visits to Kyiv, Moscow and Beijing on a self-styled “peace mission”, sparking criticism among EU member states.
“In light of recent developments marking the start of the Hungarian Presidency, the President has decided that (the EU Commission) will be represented at senior civil servant level only during informal meetings of the Council”, Eric Mamer, spokesman for the European Commission president, said on X.
“The College visit to the Presidency will not take place”, he added.
The decision, which Mamer said in a separate message to journalists is not limited in time, effectively downgrades the EU Commission’s participation as specialist commissioners for the policy area under discussion normally attend EU ministerial meetings.
(Reporting by Charlotte Van Campenhout and Andrew Gray; Editing by Sandra Maler)
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