Saxony's Prime Minister Kretschmer criticizes EU Commission's boycott decision

Saxony's Prime Minister Michael Kretschmer has criticized EU Commission President Ursula von der Leyen's decision to boycott the meetings planned in Hungary under the leadership of the Hungarian Council Presidency. "Opinions can be divided on the prospects of success of Viktor Orban's talks," wrote the CDU politician on Platform X. Nevertheless: "Every effort to achieve peace in Europe is worth taking seriously." The boycott of the EU Commission has "something schoolmasterly" about it. "This is no way to treat each other in a union of equal states."

Decision in response to Orban

Von der Leyen's boycott decision was a reaction to Hungarian head of government Viktor Orban's unilateral steps in Ukraine policy. The German leader announced that only senior officials, not commissioners, would attend future informal ministerial meetings in Hungary under the leadership of the current EU Council Presidency. In addition, the EU Commission will forgo the traditional inaugural visit to the Hungarian Presidency, according to a spokesperson.

The reason behind von der Leyen's decision is a trip abroad by Orban a few days after the start of the Hungarian EU Presidency, which was not coordinated with the EU. He had met Kremlin leader Vladimir Putin in Moscow and staged this as a "peace mission" to resolve the Ukraine conflict. He later also traveled to Beijing for talks with China's head of state and party leader Xi Jinping and to the USA for a meeting with former US President Donald Trump.