Following the Hungarian prime minister’s peace efforts that saw him visit Kyiv, Moscow, Beijing and the U.S., European Council President Charles Michel wrote a strongly worded letter saying that Hungary has no role in representing the European Union.
Charles Michel refuted the prime minister’s earlier statements in five points. Firstly, he does not accept the prime minister’s claim of a European “pro-war policy,” saying that Russia is the aggressor and Ukraine the victim, exercising its legitimate right to self-defense.
The president of the European Council also said that, as president-in-office of the EU, Hungary has “no role in representing the Union on the international stage and received no European Council mandate to engage on behalf of the Union,” Michel said.
He stressed that the above position on Ukraine had been adopted earlier by consensus by all 27 EU member states, including Hungary.
The president of the European Council also stressed that the EU’s foreign policy is that “no discussion about Ukraine can take place without Ukraine” and underlined that the EU is seeking broad support for a just peace based on the Ukrainian peace formula.
“The most direct way to peace is for Russia to withdraw all of its forces from Ukraine and respect Ukraine’s territorial integrity and the UN Charter,” Michel wrote, adding that he had shared the letter with all EU member states and had also informed the Ukrainian side of his correspondence with Viktor Orbán.
