The Patriots for Europe EP group held their first summit on Thursday in Brussels. The meeting was attended by all the leaders of the PfE parties and took place ahead of the European Council summit scheduled to discuss the war in Ukraine, migration, as well as key economic policies, all of which Hungary differs on with most member states.
The informal meeting of the EU Foreign Affairs Council took place amid heightened tensions in Brussels on 29 August. The mood was set by Josep Borrell’s decision to relocate the meeting from Budapest to the Belgian capital as a signal of disapproval of Viktor Orbán’s peace mission. Ahead of the meeting, pro-war ministers issued statements criticizing the Hungarian government, and the tense atmosphere carried over into the discussions in the meeting room.
Two elections this week at the Council of Europe will determine the institution’s future orientation. On Tuesday, 25 June the new Secretary General of the Council of Europe will be elected for a five-year term. On Wednesday, 26 June three new judges for the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) will be elected for a nine-year term. Senior Research Fellow at the European Centre for Law and Justice (ECLJ) Nicolas Bauer points out the risk of a leftist takeover.
The Lithuanian presidency began with Lithuanian Prime Minister Ingrida Šimonytė outlining the goals of the upcoming term. Firstly, she mentioned the importance of supporting Ukraine in defending itself against Russian aggression, which should be achieved by strengthening democratic institutions in Ukraine and providing further significant support for reconstruction. Secondly, she stressed that a higher level of accountability would be required in connection with international crimes. In this process, the CoE’s expertise should be utilized, for example, to establish a Special International Tribunal for the Crime of Aggression of the Russian Federation against Ukraine.
Charles Michel has announced his candidacy for the European Parliament in this year’s elections, leaving his seat at the head of the European Council vacant. This raises the prospect of Viktor Orbán taking up the post, causing panic among the European left.
Ukrainian representative Yuriy Kamelchuk demanded an explanation as to why Hungary had blocked the payment of the next instalment of military aid from the European Peace Facility (EPF) to Ukraine. In his reply, the Hungarian minister reminded that Ukraine has put the biggest Hungarian bank on their list of international sponsors of terrorism, suggesting that the Hungarian bank enables the Russian war machine. As soon as OTP is removed from that list, the minister declared, Hungary will reconsider its veto.
The Strasbourg-based Council of Europe welcomed the positive changes in Hungary since ECRI’s latest report adopted in 2015. However, ECRI also expressed concern about legislative changes that in their view ‘seriously undermine the human rights of LGBTI communities’ and about measures taken during the emergency period declared during the coronavirus pandemic.
Hungarian presidency will provide an opportunity to represent European values that are also important to Hungarians.
‘If national continuity is sufficiently real to transmit liabilities from the past, it must also be sufficiently real to transmit assets and obligations into the future. Today’s Europeans did not build most of the cities they live in, create the legal systems they rely on, establish their borders or accumulate all the institutional and cultural capital they possess. They inherited them. Yet neither are they the final owners. Their children will inherit what remains.’
Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez is facing mounting pressure after 22 European leaders demanded coordinated action against Spain’s mass migrant regularization policy following the recent invasion of Ceuta and Melilla. The signatories linked permissive policies to migration pull factors and warned they were prepared to restore temporary Schengen border controls.
At a time when public debate is increasingly polarized and superficial, Hungarian Conservative remains committed to depth and independent thought.
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