Amid fears in Brussels that Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán could end up heading the European Council in July, following Charles Michel’s resignation, Budapest has called for “calm”, AFP reported.
“To all who are asking whether Viktor Orbán will become the temporary president of the European Council if Michel becomes an MEP: let’s keep our strategic calm,” Hungarian government spokesman Zoltan Kovacs said today on the X social platform.
The President of the European Council, Charles Michel, announced yesterday that he will participate as a candidate for MEP in the European elections in June this year and that if elected, he will step down from his current post. That means he won’t serve out his entire term, which ends in November. If a replacement for Michel is not found in June, European rules stipulate that the functions of the president of the European Council will be temporarily performed by the leader of the country that holds the presidency of the Council of the European Union. From July 1 of this year, the president of the Council of the European Union will be Hungary, which means that the functions of the president of the European Union would be performed by Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán, BTA reported.
Orban is known for his strained relationship with Brussels and is the only EU leader to maintain close ties with the Kremlin since Russian forces invaded Ukraine in February 2022, AFP notes.
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2024-01-08 20:30:00
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