Sweden will not send its ministers to Hungarian EU presidency meetings over Putin visit

11 Jul. () –

Sweden’s government will not send its ministers to informal meetings organised by Hungary this month under its rotating presidency of the Council of the European Union, in protest at its visit to Moscow by Russian President Vladimir Putin without consulting its European partners.

“Hungary’s actions have been damaging and there must be consequences,” said EU Affairs Minister Jessika Roswall, who explained that the meetings would be attended by lower-ranking officials, according to the DPA news agency.

The boycott will take place at four informal ministerial meetings scheduled for this month on Hungarian soil – those on Environment, Energy, Justice and Employment and Social Affairs – and it is not ruled out that other countries will join in.

One of these countries would be Finland, according to the daily ‘Helsingin Sanomat’, citing official sources. The agreement was reportedly reached between the Swedish and Finnish prime ministers, Ulf Kristersson and Petteri Orpo, on Wednesday 10 July, on the sidelines of the NATO summit in Washington.

Other countries considering joining the boycott include Estonia, Latvia and Poland, as well as Finland, Roswall said.

Orbán’s visit to President Putin last week did not please his European partners, who insisted that the meeting had nothing to do with Hungary’s rotating presidency of the EU Council for the next six months, but was part of relations between Moscow and Budapest.

For his part, Orbán, who had visited kyiv for the first time since the start of the invasion, stressed that the meeting was aimed at learning first-hand Putin’s opinions on the future course of the war in Ukraine, framing it within a Hungarian “peace mission.”

The 27 EU countries reprimanded Budapest on Wednesday at an ambassadorial meeting in Brussels over Orbán’s tour. All delegations, except Slovakia, made it clear that they did not believe the Hungarian explanations and considered the prime minister’s approach to be a “breach” of the Treaties.

The decision of whether or not to send representatives to each informal meeting is up to each member state, so coordinated action at the level of 27 is not expected, but rather individual gestures, according to European diplomatic sources who spoke to Europa Press.