Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban is paying his first visit to Ukraine since Russia\u2019s full-scale war began in February 2022, according to a Hungarian government spokesperson. <\/p>\n
\u201cViktor Orban arrived in Kyiv this morning to discuss European peace with President Volodymyr Zelensky,\u201d spokesperson Zoltan Kovacs posted on X on Tuesday. <\/p>\n
Talks between the two leaders will focus on \u201cpossibilities for achieving peace, as well as current issues in Hungarian-Ukrainian bilateral relations,\u201d Kovacs added. <\/p>\n
Orban has been a divisive figure regarding European support for Ukraine. The authoritarian Hungarian leader has regularly attempted to steamroll European Union initiatives offering further military and financial support to Kyiv during the conflict. <\/p>\n
Hungary\u2019s prime minister also has a close relationship with Russian President Vladimir Putin, which has frequently come under scrutiny. Their bond is underpinned by both economic cooperation and some shared values. <\/p>\n
Both leaders have also enacted anti-LGBTQ policies and clamped down on freedom of speech in their countries. Hungary has supported Russia at a United Nations level and rejected EU sanctions following Putin\u2019s aggression in Ukraine as early as 2014, after Russia illegally annexed Crimea. <\/p>\n
Tuesday\u2019s meeting comes as Orban and Hungary take control of the EU Council\u2019s rotating presidency, which changes every six months. During each six-month period, the country controlling the presidency does not take control of the EU\u2019s overall agenda, but does have a platform through which they can hammer home their own priorities. <\/p>\n
On the EU Council\u2019s website, it likens holding the presidency \u201cto someone hosting a dinner, making sure their guests all gather in harmony,\u201d adding that to \u201cguarantee effectiveness, the presidency acts as an \u2018honest broker,\u2019 rising above the holder\u2019s own national interest.\u201d <\/p>\n
Orban took control of the presidency on Monday with a call to \u201cMake Europe Great Again,\u201d a reference to Donald Trump\u2019s political slogan that will alarm many of his European counterparts who are braced for the former US president\u2019s potential return to the White House, concerned about what it will mean for the EU. <\/p>\n
Other key European diplomatic meetings are planned for July. NATO will celebrate 75 years of the alliance in Washington, DC on July 9-11. The agenda for that event is expected to be dominated by long-term plans to support Ukraine and conversations about its eventual accession to the alliance. <\/p>\n
The European Political Community (EPC), a forum for 47 European countries, inside and outside the EU, to discuss the continent\u2019s strategic challenges, will also meet on July 18 in the United Kingdom. Ukraine and Hungary are both members of the EPC. <\/p>\n
It is expected that Ukraine will dominate that agenda and Zelensky may attend the meeting in person. Orban may have had this in mind when timing this trip to Kyiv, ensuring that his first meeting with Ukraine\u2019s president since the start of the war was not in such a public and high-stakes diplomatic setting. <\/p>\n<\/p>\n
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