Some EU states won't send ministers to presidency meetings in protest at Orban's Russia trip

Swedish EU Minister Jessika Roswall is proposed as Sweden's nomination for new EU Commissioner, during a press coference in Stockholm, Sweden, July 8, 2024. TT News Agency/Mikaela Landestrom/File Photo

STOCKHOLM - Sweden and several other European Union countries will not send ministers to government meetings linked to Hungary's EU presidency this month in a protest at Victor Orban's talks with Russian President Vladimir Putin, the Swedish government said.

Orban, Hungary's prime Minister, held talks on a potential Ukraine peace deal with Putin last week, angering some EU leaders who warned against appeasing Moscow and said Orban did not speak for the 27-nation bloc.

Informed sources told Reuters that Orban, a nationalist who has frequently locked horns with fellow EU leaders, would also meet Donald Trump on Thursday at the Republican presidential candidate's Florida home.

"The Hungarian actions during the (EU) presidency are harmful and must have consequences. Sweden will therefore not participate on a political level during the informal government meetings in July," Jessika Roswall, Sweden's Minister for EU Affairs, said in a written statement to Reuters on Thursday.

Roswall said Sweden, Finland, Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania and Poland would be represented only by civil servants and that additional EU member countries were discussing similar actions.

Hungary will hold the rotating EU presidency for six months until Dec. 31.

-(Reuters)