EU leaders plan to discuss Orban’s ties with Russia at informal summit - Telex
European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen plans to raise the issue of Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán's ties with Russia with EU leaders.
This is reported by Telex, according to Censor.NET.
What is known?
An informal EU summit will take place in Cyprus on April 23–24.
European Council President António Costa previously stated that they would discuss the geopolitical situation in the world, the conflict in the Middle East, and the EU budget.
Orban
The summit may also address the situation surrounding the negotiations between Hungarian and Russian officials.
Last week, European Commission spokesperson Pignot, commenting on the leak of the Lavrov-Szijjártó talks, said that they "highlight the alarming possibility that the government of a member state" acted in collusion with Russia.
The European Commission later confirmed that von der Leyen would raise this issue at the leadership level.
The next official EU summit is scheduled for June 18. Journalists note that Cyprus may be the last opportunity for the bloc’s leaders to discuss the scandal involving Orbán.
What happened before?
- As a reminder, audio recordings and transcripts of conversations between Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov and Hungarian Foreign Minister Péter Szijjártó were released to the media yesterday, shedding light on their contacts amid discussions within the EU regarding sanctions policy against Russia.
- Subsequently, the media released another conversation between Lavrov and Szijjártó, in which he promised to hand over a document regarding Ukraine's accession to the EU.
- According to media reports, Hungarian Prime Minister Orbán told dictator Putin that he was ready to "become a mouse" in order to help the Russian "lion".
