Germany accuses Orbán of causing “a lot of damage in his first days at the head of the European Council”

AFP and Europa Press

The newspaper La Jornada
Saturday, July 13, 2024, p. 22

Moscow. US and Russian Defense Ministers Lloyd Austin and Andrei Belousov held a phone call aimed at reducing the risk of a nuclear war. climbingthe Russian Defense Ministry reported yesterday.

During contact The issue of preventing security threats and reducing the risk of possible escalation was raised.Moscow said in a statement.

Pentagon spokeswoman Sabrina Singh said Austin stressed the importance of maintaining lines of communication with Russia during the conflict with Ukraine.

The conversation took place just after a summit of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) in Washington, after which the White House announced that the United States will deploy, from 2026, new weapons in Germany, with a longer range than the systems it currently has in Europe.

The head of the German government, Olaf Scholz, defended yesterday this decision, which, according to him, It is part of the (policy of) deterrence and guarantees peace.

The Kremlin, however, condemned the move, saying it was a return to “the cold War”.

The previous official call between the Russian and US defense ministers was on June 26. According to Moscow, at that time Belousov He stressed the risk of a new escalation by the delivery of American weapons to kyiv.

Germany, on the other hand, said that the far-right presidency of the Council of the European Union had already caused much damage in his first days in office, referring to the unconsulted trip of Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán to Moscow to meet with Russian President Vladimir Putin.

We need to see how the Hungarian presidency of the Council continues. We are on day 12 and it has already caused a lot of damage.said German government deputy spokesman Wolfgang Buechner, who said Hungary’s decision alone was welcomed. with great amazement and skepticismand like other European partners, has been quick to point out that, while Orbán can travel wherever he wants, he has no authority to speak on behalf of the European Union.

It is not acceptable to travel under the impression that you are traveling on someone else’s behalf.Buechner noted.

Orbán’s visit to President Putin last week did not go down well with 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.

Peace mission

Sweden confirmed yesterday that its ministers would not travel to Hungary in protest for this month’s ministerial meetings, which include the environment, energy, justice and employment and social affairs.

In addition to Sweden, Finland, Estonia, Latvia and Poland are considering joining the boycott, said Swedish EU Minister Jessika Roswall.

For his part, Orbán, who visited kyiv a day ago for the first time since the beginning 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 in a peace mission Hungarian.