The faction leaders' council failed to find a place for Orban, who is running for the Hungarian presidency, on the agenda for the middle of next week, and Friday is not a good day for the Hungarian prime minister.
Viktor Orbán will not be able to address one of the European Parliament's first plenary sessions because the parliament's presidency “could not find a place for it on the agenda,” two reliable sources have told Euronews.
It is a long-standing tradition for the Prime Minister of the Member State holding the Presidency of the European Council to speak in the European Parliament and present the programme for the six months of the Presidency. At that time, representatives will also have the opportunity to ask questions of the Head of Government concerned.
According to Euronews, Viktor Orbán also indicated to the EU legislature that he would be able to appear before the plenary session next Tuesday or Wednesday (July 16 or 17) to present the Hungarian presidency programme, which – in the words of Donald Trump – “Let's make Europe great again” was the slogan.
However, the Conference of Presidents – the body of faction leaders that sets the agenda – announced that unfortunately this agenda item had no place on the parliament's agenda at the time, two independent sources told Euronews.
Friday is not a good day for Urban.
The first source told Euronews that the EU Parliament was more preoccupied than usual with its own current affairs and blamed the European Council for allowing the body that sets the agenda for the legislature's opening sessions to ignore the tradition of the EU presidency.
“Five years ago, in 2019, we managed to put the next Finnish presidency in the last summer plenary session, as the elections were held in May, so that we could have two plenary sessions before the summer,” the source said. “We also warned that the elections in June would have consequences for our timetable.”
The first source added that the formation of the new parliament must be done by electing the president of the republic and fourteen vice-presidents, which requires the release of Tuesday and Wednesday. Thursday is set aside for the vote on the re-election of Ursula von der Leyen as president of the European Commission. Friday – theoretically available – is not suitable for Viktor Orban. All this was confirmed by the official spokesman.
The agenda for next week's plenary session will be finalized at a meeting of parliamentary faction leaders on Thursday (July 11). “There could be a last-minute solution,” the first source added. But according to the spokesperson, the Hungarian presidency is unlikely to be able to speak before September.
Viktor Orban's lightning tour has caused surprise and protest
The Hungarian Prime Minister has made several unexpected visits in recent days, and although he says he is not negotiating as EU President, he speaks and assesses the situation only as part of a kind of peace mission, because he is the only Western politician with whom everyone talks, the EU leadership has published leaflets and statements of protest and separatism, emphasizing that Viktor Orban has no authority to negotiate on behalf of the Union, whether in Kiev, Moscow or Beijing. In any case, the Hungarian Prime Minister, who arrived in Moscow as the next EU President, was received by Vladimir Putin.
On Monday morning, Orban held talks with the Chinese president in Beijing, then a few hours later continued on to Washington, where he will attend the NATO General Assembly.
Hungarian government spokesmen did not respond to Euronews' inquiries.
