Sweden will not send any ministers to Hungary during the Hungarian EU presidency, announces EU Minister Jessika Roswall (M).
"The Hungarian actions during the presidency are harmful and must have consequences. Sweden will therefore not participate at the political level during the informal ministerial meetings in July", writes Roswall in a comment to TT.
Instead, Sweden will be represented by officials.
Hungary's Prime Minister Viktor Orbán has received strong criticism for his "peace trips" to Moscow and Beijing recently.
Prime Minister Ulf Kristersson (M) has, in connection with the NATO meeting in Washington, come out strongly and said, among other things, to TT that "Orbán is hijacking the EU presidency in the Council of Ministers and using it for personal gain, not to represent the EU".
Low Expectations
On a question at the final press conference in Washington about whether further measures are being considered, the Prime Minister responds:
I think we will discuss the matter thoroughly and see how we should approach it. Either different countries do their own thing and express their discontent, says Kristersson.
— The expectation of being able to change is relatively low, but that does not prevent one from still wanting to express one's standpoint.
Several EU countries – including Finland, Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, and Poland – are acting similarly to Sweden by only sending officials to the meetings arranged in Budapest in July. Discussions are ongoing in more countries.
Demand on Hungary
At the same time, within the liberal group in the EU Parliament, Renew, there are demands to completely strip Hungary of the presidency.
Hungary is leading both formal council meetings in Brussels and informal meetings in Budapest from July 1 to the end of the year. There, EU countries are often represented by ministers, but July is otherwise a month when many are replaced by officials.
The presidency rotates between countries every six months according to a rotating schedule. The last time Sweden held the presidency was at the beginning of 2023.
As the presiding country in the EU's Council of Ministers, Hungary is arranging a number of informal ministerial meetings in Budapest during the summer:
8–9 July: Trade and Industry Ministers
11–12 July: Environment Ministers
15–16 July: Energy Ministers
22–23 July: Home Affairs and Justice Ministers
24–25 July: Health Ministers
28–29 August: Foreign Ministers
29–30 August: Defence Ministers
